by phillipw | Jul 10, 2024 | MI, PO, RO
Thrills and Swoon Romantic Novels Your fantasy reaches as far as your hands ~ Lorca, “Oda a Salvador Dalí” (Ode to Salvador Dalí) The prophet is a poet. His experience is one known to the poets. What the poets know as poetic inspiration, the prophets call divine...
by phillipw | May 28, 2024 | FL, MI, TI
Brown Not So Boring When Splashed with Blood Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Brown Not So Boring When Splashed with Blood Dead calm the town, the nearly coastal town, Lagoon its shore, that brackish...
by phillipw | Feb 11, 2024 | AL, JO, MI, PA
“The mind is its own place” ~ Paradise Lost, Book I, Lines 221-270, John Milton The mind creates its own space/time inside A rumpled space in skulls. The gravity In that dimension grows as long and wide As heaven and hell to hold depravity Of atom bombs and...
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 | Oct 1, 2021 | CH, MI, RE, RO
Moving, Moving, Still The pilgrims on their way to Lourdes are just Like entomologists that chase fey things, Except the nets do capture perfect dust In patterned beauty on the wanton wings Symmetrical in color and in shape, Those doomed realities. The...
by phillipw | Sep 29, 2021 | BU, DE, HU, JA, MI, SA
If macho stars are doing sex with men, That must be covered up. Mere Vaseline Across the lens won’t do. It’s cock and hen That’s right for Hollywood. Shut down the scene If Marlon Brando kisses Dean and/or The other way around. Rock Hudson’s Day Is just for show. ...
by phillipw | Sep 13, 2021 | BR, CH, JO, MA, MI, NU, RU, SK, SW, VI, WO
Skinny-dipping with Rupert Brooke, Sturdy as a Marlowe Stanza or Miltonic Ones, in a Night-time Cambridgeshire Pool Virginia Woolf had seen him. She had seen Him whole. She saw his soul, good-hearted, kind, Substantial. She had seen him leaping, clean, More clean...
by phillipw | Aug 15, 2021 | BO, CO, MI, SE
And Moaning about How We Can’t Go Get a Sunburn on the Costa Blanca As calm as Eisenhower after war While playing golf with Mamie left behind, We turn ourselves away to things much more Enjoyable. Ignoring earthquake grind Of human flesh and souls in Haiti, we Get on...
by phillipw | Aug 13, 2021 | LO, MI, RO
Granting What sages and the rest must say at last Is only love is high. The evils through The world don’t matter. Yes, those things are vast, But finally the wisest think more true. No, not the love of men and ladies in The novels sold at...
by phillipw | Jun 3, 2021 | AD, AM, BI, BR, CH, DE, FI, GA, Ho, LO, MI, PO, RO, RU, SC, WO
Blue Rugby and Blue Gallipoli Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem We do not think of Rubert Brooke in blue, When we remember him at all. We think of Brooke Between some pages of a volume, true To...
by phillipw | May 1, 2021 | AE, BE, DA, ES, FE, MI, PL, ST
The Data of Beauty Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem I met Miss Universe when I was just A boy of seventeen. I’ve never quite Recovered from that moment. I was thrust By accident to grasp...
by phillipw | Apr 29, 2021 | CH, DA, MI, SA, SI
Occult Messaging on Holy Saturday [If you are reading this sonnet on a mobile phone, it will look best if you read it in landscape view, but maybe you should turn it to portrait view to see the painting by Salvador Dali at the end.] Modern poetry modern verse ...
by phillipw | Apr 25, 2021 | AN, BA, BE, BO, CH, FI, MI
Michael Barham Antiques at the Top of the Portobello Road The shops are multi-coloured on their fronts, The pink ones and the gold ones and the grey (Lead blue). Yet then a true blue one confronts Your vision. [Other shoppers wander. They Don’t have a clue. ...
by phillipw | Jan 20, 2021 | HE, HU, IS, MA, MI, RO, SE, ST, TR
Iseut of the White Hands “[…] then he was such that all who saw him said that if he was not a brave knight he really must hate his fine body. And indeed he was so handsome that Iseut herself, who was called Iseut of the White Hands, fell madly in love with...
by phillipw | Jan 17, 2021 | AE, BE, CA, CH, ES, MI, OR, RO
Milele in His Temple Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The Beijing cat, a silvery chevron on His head, between his ears, in fur as white As whitest peony, the chevron drawn As Chinese artists with...
by phillipw | Jan 17, 2021 | AE, BE, ES, MI, PE, RO
Ten Nine Eight Seven Six Five Four Three Two One Ignition Blast Up Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The cushion launch pads of the leaves and stems Of bushes’ light up buds...
by phillipw | Jan 16, 2021 | AE, BE, DA, EN, ES, MI, PE, SA
Unfathomable in Meditation Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The peony made Him measure it with his fan, The daimyo’s fan. ~ Issa [A haiku expanded by Phillip Whidden] Some things are large. Some things...
by phillipw | Jan 3, 2021 | MI, NO, PA, PL
Viral Riddance Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Who says that emptiness is wrong? Not those Who hate humanity, the women, men, And screaming brats. Di Chirico may pose The eeriness of...
by phillipw | Aug 10, 2020 | BU, DA, IN, MI
Danaus plexippus Flocks Remember a Prehistoric Everest The butterflies recall an ancient slope. The Monarchs flew for eons past a peak Too high for them. Those insects had no hope Of scaling it, this black and orange clique, So huge and gorgeous that the angel cloud...
by phillipw | Jul 29, 2020 | AR, AS, AV, BI, CO, MI, ST
Occult Forces Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Blue bioluminescent gardens guide Credit: Kris Williams To shore some birds which otherwise might die. The currents and the winds make creatures...
by phillipw | Jul 23, 2020 | BI, CA, DO, EA, FL, MI, OS, PE, PO, WH
The Cape Consider what the cape desires. It wants to see The clouds of birds that used to fly above It in their immemorial paths, sea And sea and sea beneath their search for love And nestlings. Cape Canaveral wants the white And white and white...
by phillipw | Jul 20, 2020 | ES, GI, MA, MI, PL, SO, VE
Watered Down Wine and Esthetics “Gretchen Reydams-Shils (“Myth and Poetry in the Timaeus“) deals with Socrates’ puzzling remark that his description of an ideal state was like a painting.” ~ http://ndpr.nd.edu/news/plato-and-the-poets/ Socrates’...
by phillipw | Jul 16, 2020 | GR, MI, MY, OR, PR
Some Myths are Far More Real “Orpheus is a hero, not a god, and a hero more valuable than most gods, just as Prometheus was.” ~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 21 The gods are less than Orpheus of Thrace. Gods loomed up large but they were never real. Majestic for a...
by phillipw | Jul 12, 2020 | FE, GE, GR, HI, MI
Orpheus Sings Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “he sings to distract his shipmates from the irresistible lure of the Sirens onto the rocks” ~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 32 The Sirens...
by phillipw | Jul 12, 2020 | DI, MI, PL, PO
Mixed Race Divinity and Humanity Socrates “builds up a picture of the poet as ‘a light, winged, holy creature’, who cannot compose until he is out of his mind and possessed . . . . The god takes away the poet’s senses, and uses him . . . so that the poems he utters...
by phillipw | Jul 12, 2020 | HE, MI, OR, PL, ST
Misogyny (μισογυνία) is a Greek Word Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “What would a man not give to engage in conversation with Orpheus?” ~ Plato That marble minded Plato thinks of men, Not women,...
by phillipw | Jul 6, 2020 | AN, IN, MA, MI, MU
Daedalus and Icarus Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “The natural rhythms of Greek [poetry] tend ‘downward,’ falling” ~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 14 How strange it is to think that ancient...
by phillipw | Jun 17, 2020 | MI, OR, RE, TR
Invisible Ivory Music Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter. ~ John Keats Herus Pamphilius claimed that Orpheus’s drifting soul, destined to be incarnated anew in some other physical form after he had died, elected to be born a swan so that he...
by phillipw | Jun 13, 2020 | MI
But What if I, when Speaking in my Own Voice, Make a False Representation of Myself? Elementary, My Dear Plato It seems that Plato means that if I speak Or write in poetry, but in my own Persona and my voice, that is not weak And dodgy like mimesis. In this clone Of...
by phillipw | May 28, 2020 | CH, FR, MA, MI, Ta
French Cuisine There’s nowt like sour grapes to put men’s teeth On bitchy edge and that would do a lot To clear up why Talleyrand was beneath The others in the heap. He was warm snot– Or worse—to those he bested, if it’s right To use a word...
by phillipw | May 20, 2020 | BA, FO, GA, Ho, JE, LO, MI
Barraqué Breaks Off Their Love The breaking off of love is not a small Affair. It’s not like breaking off a limb That’s hanging from a tree. It’s not at all Like breaking off the singing of a hymn Because the practice isn’t going right. It’s more like sacrilege,...
by phillipw | May 20, 2020 | BA, FO, GA, Ho, JE, LO, MI
Julian the Apostate Proclaimed Emperor Near Notre Dame Cathedral Mais où sont les neiges d’antan! ~ François Villon In 1952 Jean wrote his first Great opus. Barraqué of Notre Dame Became the lover with a champagne thirst For Foucault. After that,...
by phillipw | May 18, 2020 | BE, CA, MI, TO, Uncategorized
Milele Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Tranquillity, despite his tiny size, Rests strong in him as if a tiger’s dream Has come to dwell behind his calm blue eyes Because it chose to sleep...
by phillipw | May 17, 2020 | DI, ET, FR, LA, MA, MI, MO
The Best Kind of Friend Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “ ‘Happy is the man who has dear children and sound horses and hunting hounds and a friend abroad…’ Solon, F23 (West)” ~ Robin Lane Fox,...
by phillipw | May 14, 2020 | GR, MI, OC, TH, WI
The Second Great Discombobulation Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Put on your robes. Ascension comes, is nigh. The final time of Judgment’s mighty power Is looming. Turn your eyes towards the sky....
by phillipw | May 7, 2020 | AN, MI, NE, PO
Helmeted Brain and Tectonic Plates Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Athena and Poseidon do not meet inside My mind and doubtless not inside my heart. They face each other off: she virgin bride Of...
by phillipw | May 6, 2020 | IG, MI, SP, Ta
Pathetic Skin, Flesh, “Brain” Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Today already, twice, I’ve seen two pics Of tattoos with dickhead spelling mistakes. One says . . . “Musle Healing.” The dopy dicks Who...
by phillipw | Apr 25, 2020 | MI, PE, PL, PO
But What if I, when Speaking in my Own Voice, Make a False Representation of Myself? Elementary, My Dear Plato It seems that Plato means that if I speak Or write in poetry, but in my own Persona and my voice, that bodes not weak And dodgy like mimesis. In this clone...
by phillipw | Apr 11, 2020 | MI, OR
Misogyny (μισογυνία) is a Greek Word “What would a man not give to engage in conversation with Orpheus?” ~ Plato That marble minded Plato thinks of men, Not women, girls, or boys before they grow Their body hair in armpit, crotch, and then The beard. His brain was...
by phillipw | Apr 1, 2020 | BE, MI
Like Shalimar by Guerlain Beauty is the wonder. The truth is there For all to see, touch, hear, or taste, or smell. The skin on young ones and their curly hair, The sound of clearest singing of a bell On Easter, each is wondrous miracle Enough. The tastes on tongue...
by phillipw | Dec 31, 2019 | MI, SE
Sisters Each spirit whispers like a softened snake, “You know you’d rather be another soul, A heroine who’s burning at the stake, Or at the very least a silky pole Dancer snorting up the lines of cocaine Stuffed crudely in her g-string by a player....
by phillipw | Dec 30, 2019 | AL, AL, ME, MI
Mists Does mist mean something in the mind? Besides The coming of dementia with its fog Of numb remembrance, Alzheimer’s knife slides Right through the brain. Schizophrenia’s Gog And Magog thrust an Armageddon in The very citadel of logic. Does...
by phillipw | Dec 19, 2019 | MI
All Depends on Angle That moment feared, when beauty’s going past, Winks out at her. Thin silver backing on The shallow glass predicts slow motion blast Of wrinkles and of sag. It shows the dawn Of desiccation and of droop. Her man (The darling) hasn’t...
by phillipw | Dec 13, 2019 | MI
Doucer “Celui qui n’a pas vécu au dix-huitième siècle avant la Révolution ne connaît pas la douceur de vivre”: (“Those who haven’t lived in the eighteenth century before the Revolution do not know the sweetness of living”) Belle France has...
by phillipw | Nov 17, 2019 | KI, MI
Lightest Dusky Orange, Pearly Grey, and Softest White; Her He Should Have Worshiped Poor little darling Minon got ahead In life by starting from behind. They dumped Her in the basement. She hunted bread To keep from death. From that bad start she jumped To...
by phillipw | Oct 10, 2019 | CR, MI
Golden Miami Viewed at Night from the International Space Station Before Jehovah’s breath commanded light, The dark ruled absolute in every place Except where God enjoyed his perfect might, Perhaps. There was no nighttime there. God’s face Was altogether...
by phillipw | Sep 18, 2019 | MI
A Diminished Thing The ruin of a stylish building, he Presides now over that dull avenue Late Middle Age. Not near senility, This man’s poetic as Kalamazoo, Yet once he was a skyscraper with black Curls. They are going thin and turning gray. His massive...
by phillipw | Jul 2, 2019 | MI
Light Killing Light The Milky Way is one prolonged, hot sigh Of birth and life and dying. Whites and blues And yellows, splayed across an iron sky, Explode, implode, imbibe each other, fuse Their destinies together, cannibals Of cousins who mistakenly drift...
by phillipw | Feb 15, 2019 | MI
“What would a man not give to engage in conversation with Orpheus?” ~ Plato That marble minded Plato thinks of men, Not women, girls, or boys before they grow Their body hair in armpit, crotch, and then The beard. His brain was right since women glow With threat and...