by phillipw | May 10, 2022 | AR, ED, MI, ST
Love is Empty, Friendship Dead Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “Pierrot, a macaroon! I cannot live without a macaroon!” The puppets, dressed in satin, purply, ruffs, And skirts of apple green, cerise...
by phillipw | Mar 13, 2022 | BR, ED, EL, RU
“Legendary Beauty” and “Rugby and Eton”–A Foursome of Sonnets Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Legendary Beauty “Incredibly, inordinately, devastatingly,...
by phillipw | Mar 11, 2022 | BR, ED, MA, RU
For Decades Afterward the Civil Servant Moaned, but Then in Later Decades We are All but Clueless Eddie Marsh, standing How stripped we are of details, skinned by time Of facts long lost. We do not know what Will Looked like while he thrust deep his semen crime In...
by phillipw | Aug 18, 2021 | DO, ED, EM, Ho, OL, RA
The Range of American Letters Including e e cummings The English language in the farther west Can be as harsh as sneering Ambrose Bierce Or roaring Robinson Jeffers. The zest Appears in Marquis’s tomcat Bill, fierce Beside Mehitabel and Archie. Calm Was English in...
by phillipw | Mar 10, 2021 | AL, CR, DE, ED, FA, GA, GR, Ho, SC, SM
Wandering in Warriston Cemetery “Smith contracted diphtheria in November 1866 and, although he seemed to have recovered by Christmas, was then struck down by typhus. He died at home on 5 January 1867 at the very beginning of his thirty-seventh year, and was buried in...
by phillipw | Jan 19, 2021 | ED, LO, PE, RO, SC
Embracing Dooms for His Regret The peonies’ white petals fallen on The garden ground instruct these two To part. The period for their love has gone. Just one of them attempts a passage through The muted condemnation of the flowers. The other turns his face away and...
by phillipw | Nov 24, 2020 | A, CL, ED, EN, MU, NO, PE, PH, PI
“Orpheus with his lute made trees” Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem For Philippe Entremont What use is music lacking fingers, strings, And tremolo, the purity of voice Of flute in Grieg’s concerto,...
by phillipw | Jul 23, 2020 | AN, DO, ED, FA, PA, WA, WI
Edward Wilson’s Uncompromising Painting in the Face of Doom … It is as if the realm of ghosts and shades Were painted in a watercolour of Pale blues and soft frost blacks, or like charades Performed behind auroras from above Antarctic twilights. ...
by phillipw | May 26, 2020 | BR, CH, ED, HI, Ho, HU, MU, PA
Holy Innocence We wonder if the organist who spelled Out basic counterpoint and how to write Down harmony knew that this later swelled To eight-part glory in a music bright As heaven’s capital with streets of gold And gem foundations. Highnam’s Edward...
by phillipw | May 26, 2020 | CH, ED, HU, PA, SC, SP
Edmund Spenser’s Complicated Sonnet Causes a Simple Composition ‘Songs are not neglected. There are two; one, “When stars are in the quiet skies” (written August 13, 1865, and another, “Fair is my love,” (“written for Primrose, Eton, ’64-5 copied ad fin., July 3,...
by phillipw | May 10, 2020 | AC, CE, CH, ED, JA, MA, ME, RE
More Widely Sage than Plato Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem A cave as classroom with a centaur (wise And just) as teacher is a place to learn, Surpassed by none. They straddled with their thighs...
by phillipw | May 6, 2020 | AU, BE, CA, DE, DO, ED, FA, RO, WI
A Seal Upon my Heart Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem My lingering rose, the lightish purple one, Has failed to open. It is still a bud In late November. Though the autumn sun Indulges it, the rose will...
by phillipw | Apr 26, 2020 | ED, PL, SO
Pigs Would Fly if Their Sties Were Noble Poor Socrates. He thought that if the young Were wrapped in images of beauty, they Would take good in and then could climb each rung Of rightness. Lovelinesses would convey Them up and straight to healthiness of soul. Their...
by phillipw | Jan 28, 2020 | ED
Reading his Story to the Class He’s big and fat and ugly like his dad, Presumably, and much the same at heart, I’d wager, though, thank God, I’ve never had The pleasure. Quite as pleasant as a fart Released across the students, this boy stinks The period up with...
by phillipw | Nov 4, 2019 | ED
My Innocent Niece and Flattering, Phoney Educationists When kids are taught that they are geniuses At this or that, while, frankly, they are duff At it, we turn them in keeniuses— Until they flop. Then we require hot stuff Developed long ago: it’s common...