‘A Hero in My Head’: A Villanelle by Phillip Whidden The Society January 7, 2025 Poetry, Satire, Villanelle 31 Comments . A Hero in My Head Though never even in the war he loomed A hero there. At least in my blond head, Our father braved it out where Jap planes...
Three Christmas Sonnets by Phillip Whidden The Society December 22, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 10 Comments . Dim and Not He carries one white candle in the space Beneath cathedral vaults. He has to hold His hand in front of it so just a trace Of light...
‘Lady Agnew of Lochnaw, Loved by the Viewer and the Baronet’: A Poem by Phillip Whidden The Society November 23, 2024 Ekphrastic, Poetry 11 Comments . Lady Agnew of Lochnaw, Loved by the Viewer and the Baronet The lady wanted prettiness and style. (The artist wanted pounds.) The chintz Gave both...
A Sonnet on the Vogelherd Horse and Other Poetry by Phillip Whidden The Society November 7, 2024 Art, Culture, Poetry 6 Comments . Horse Figurine —one inch by one point nine inch, 32,000 to 35,000 years before Giacometti's famous horse A hallowed tiny horse, but missing...
‘The Force of Dreams’: A Sonnet by Phillip Whidden The Society October 24, 2024 Love Poems, Poetry 13 Comments . The Force of Dreams I dreamed of you last night. I dreamed and dreamed, Yet more, as if there never had been dreams In me before. Reality it...
‘The Meaning of Pearl Necklaces’ and Another Sonnet by Phillip Whidden The Society October 10, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 5 Comments . The Meaning of Pearl Necklaces Most pearls are prized because the luster of Their loveliness lies held in shapely spheres— Though never...
‘Cutie Pie Cat’ and Another Sonnet by Phillip Whidden The Society September 26, 2024 Beauty, Humor, Poetry 6 Comments . Cutie Pie Cat The pink-nosed face of Prospero my cat, Pink nose and white fur face, is what he rubs Against me, purring. He does not know that I...
‘There Are Masters and Then There Are Masters’ and Other Poetry by Phillip Whidden The Society September 12, 2024 Culture, Poetry 19 Comments . There Are Masters and Then There Are Masters The moth’s desire for muzziness of moon Looms large in some men’s minds. They seem to think That...
‘Tranquil Tokonoma’ and Other Poetry by Phillip Whidden The Society August 27, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 28 Comments . Tranquil Tokonoma One thing a perfect purple rose cannot Accomplish is a type of sadness. Man Is best at that. That is mankind’s special...
‘Free Verse as Nightmare Surrealism’: A Poem by Phillip Whidden The Society August 13, 2024 Culture, Poetry 26 Comments . Free Verse as Nightmare Surrealism “I thirst for new songs without moons or irises, and without loves that have died.” ---Lorca, New Songs...
‘Cat Contentment’: A Poem by Phillip Whidden The Society July 30, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 16 Comments . Cat Contentment The cat begins his yawn by curling out His pinkest tongue tip as his lips begin To part. His faith in comfort is...
A Poem on Cancer Drugs, by Phillip Whidden The Society July 16, 2024 Culture, Poetry 14 Comments . Dementing Torture of Benign Drugs against Malignancy His life came to its End. Smell of the medicine Departs chillingly. ...
‘The Pink of Gentle Hermione and White of John Paul II’: A Poem by Phillip Whidden The Society June 28, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 13 Comments . The Pink of Gentle Hermione and White of John Paul II The lodger pauses, as he leaves, to gaze At blossoms in the border at the front— The blooms...
‘Cape Canaveral’s Pioneers Asleep’ and Other Poetry by Phillip Whidden The Society June 10, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 7 Comments . Cape Canaveral’s Pioneers Asleep I wonder if the lights across lagoon Waves, little though they are, the lights and waves, Portend some goodness...
‘The First and Usually Unspoken Rule of Great Writing’: A Poem by Phillip Whidden The Society May 27, 2024 Culture, Poetry 12 Comments . The First and Usually Unspoken Rule of Great Writing The greatest rule of writing is to tell A truth, the truth if possible, within The scope of...
‘The Lamb’: A Poem for Good Friday by Phillip Whidden The Society March 28, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 26 Comments . The Lamb “And suddenly there was with the angel a heavenly host saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward...
‘Infernos on the Pages of Literary Journals’: A Poem by Phillip Whidden The Society March 16, 2024 Culture, Poetry 16 Comments . Infernos on the Pages of Literary Journals That one barbaric yawp might just have been All right, but then it ricocheted right down The later...
Modernism and the Murder of the People’s Poetry and Art: An Essay by Phillip Whidden The Society February 15, 2023 Art, Essays, Music, Poetry 60 Comments . Modernism and the Murder of the People’s Poetry and Art In Response to “Poetry Died 100 Years Ago this Month” by Matthew Walther in the New...
‘Tongues as of Fire’ and Other Poetry by Phillip Whidden The Society June 22, 2022 Beauty, Culture, Love Poems, Poetry 4 Comments . Tongues as of Fire If men desire to find belief, to sing It out through throats works best to make the soul Embrace it. This will make the sought...
‘Formal Poetry Against Free Verse’ and Other Poetry by Phillip Whidden The Society May 21, 2022 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 3 Comments . Formal Poetry Against Free Verse "Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Plato in...
‘Ex Nihilo Is a Joke’ by Phillip Whidden The Society March 4, 2022 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 3 Comments . Ex Nihilo Is a Joke “. . .it starts with an empty universe” ---Stephen Fry, Cosmos, vii An empty universe is paradox. In such a boundless space...
‘Music of the Contours’ by Phillip Whidden The Society February 19, 2022 Beauty, Poetry, Shape Poems 8 Comments . Music of the Contours part of "A Double Unfinished Symphony" sonnet sequence The way that curls sway lovelier than straight, ..And curving strands...
‘Messed Up Doesn’t Rhyme with Best’ by Phillip Whidden The Society April 13, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 5 Comments . Is poetry that’s free as free as all That? Surely it’s the poet who is free Or not. He makes the choice to make a sprawl Of words (and...
A Poem on Prince Philip (1921-2021): ‘As an Actor in Macbeth’ by Phillip Whidden The Society April 9, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 36 Comments . excerpted from the sonnet sequence Philip, Prince of Greece and Great Britain He wore a white gold crown wherever he Was living, Denmark, Greece,...
‘Three Thousands Years’ by Phillip Whidden The Society March 9, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 1 Comment Three Thousand Years before Apple and Three Thousand Years after the iPad I carry in my knapsack poems by The ancient Greeks, the eldest...
‘Art’ by Phillip Whidden The Society August 7, 2018 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 14 Comments Why photograph a fact when you can catch A nightmare, be a Jackson Pollock or A Dalí at his Druid weirdest? Snatch A depth of fanged...
‘Bristlecone Longevity’ and Other Poetry by Phillip Whidden The Society July 7, 2018 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 8 Comments Bristlecone Longevity The beauty of the tree is not how old, Indeed how ancient in its gnarling now, Not in its silent history yet untold, Nor in...
‘Heritage as Hope’ and Other Poetry by Phillip Whidden The Society May 23, 2018 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 30 Comments Heritage as Hope I saw the cricket scene in evening light, In Windsor light with calm men moving through The evening air and dressed in cricket...
‘Heroes, Victims, and Poseidon’ and Other Poetry by Phillip Whidden The Society April 13, 2018 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 5 Comments Heroes, Victims, and Poseidon The metre of ancient Greek poetry succeeds in “achieving a length and complexity that are unusual in the...
‘A Lively Hope: Sonnets on Sir Hubert Parry’s Youth’ by Phillip Whidden The Society February 27, 2018 Beauty, Culture, Music, Poetry 19 Comments On the occasion of his birthday, 160 years ago, on February 27, 1848 At the Solitary Age of Twelve—Seven and Twelve Being Holy Numbers The...
‘Vermont’ by Phillip Whidden The Society December 27, 2017 Beauty, Poetry 30 Comments . Vermont A white wood house defines the slope. The trees Have gone to red and flame. A field beyond Is spread with grass and granite rocks at...
‘Narcissus Saw Himself Only Once’ and Other Poetry by Phillip Whidden The Society November 22, 2017 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 1 Comment Narcissus Saw Himself Only Once “Due to the poor quality, high cost, and small size of these ancient glass mirrors, solid metal-mirrors...
A Five-Sonnet Sequence by Phillip Whidden The Society October 23, 2017 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 9 Comments Scorn “Enargeîs is the technical term ‘for divine epiphany: a word that contains the dazzle of “white,” argós, which comes to...
‘On the Sale of a 1,000-Year-Old Craquelure Chinese Dish for £10 million’ by Phillip Whidden The Society October 10, 2017 Beauty, Culture, Human Rights in China, Poetry 1 Comment ~ Dedicated to Falun Gong practitioners facing persecution in China Brutality meets decency and then What happens? Hardness softens, or...
‘The Luna Moth, the Poet, and Philosopher’ by Phillip Whidden The Society September 28, 2017 Beauty, Poetry 3 Comments “Carlotta Capuccino , ‘Plato’s Ion and the Ethics of Praise,’ takes the . . . view that poetry deploys ‘groundless praise’ and...
‘Poetry before Writing’ and Other Poetry by Phillip Whidden The Society August 26, 2017 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 5 Comments Poetry before Writing “Greece down through the fifth century has aptly been described as a ‘song culture’.” ~ Michael Schmidt in The First...
‘Untitled’ and Other Poetry by Phillip Whidden The Society August 3, 2017 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 5 Comments Untitled All older statues want to come alive, Those Greek and Roman ones, and Christian, too. Their skeletons and veins and muscles...
‘Déja’ and Other Poetry by Phillip Whidden The Society June 16, 2017 Art, Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle 19 Comments Déja Do you remember when a piece of art Held truth or meaning in its oil or stone— And beauty even? Paintings would...
‘On Picasso’s Grotesque “Seated Woman in Blue Dress” Selling for $45 Million’ by Phillip Whidden The Society May 20, 2017 Art, Beauty, Poetry 7 Comments (The BBC story here for reference) If I were burdened with a lover who Looked crooked like this woman (woman?), I Would go as twisted as...
‘Golden Opposite of Grave Beauty’ and Other Poetry by Phillip Whidden The Society May 16, 2017 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 2 Comments Golden Opposite of Grave Beauty The Buddhist, Yuezun, saw light like gold Above the blistering sands. The desert blight Of Taklamakan...
