"To keep the review thread clean..."

[TheRainMan]

4-29

.....

 

[flyguy69]

Okay Mr. Periodic Table of the Elements, I think we can get 30 poems out of Dante's Hell (which you put me through whilst trying to interpret your sweet italian nothings you whispered in my ear)

I am going to try it. I am stating right up front, I will not be funny or smart or witty or wise, and I am not going to try to speak in biblical terms or style of Dante, I may never mention a beast but I will try to write something every day from a new circle of hell (of course, the ditches too) from a personal perspective.

I am writing this now to make myself feel that I have an obligation. I think I will be spending some time in all of them anyway at some point!!!



Anyone want to play go to hell with me?



Upper Hell: the Incontinent

1st circle: Limbo. Reserved for the souls of the just people who never knew Christ, and those (especially infants) who died without baptism and never committed a sin. Here Dante encounters the ancient philosophers and poets.

2nd circle: The Lustful. Dante talks to Francesca da Rimini, who tells him how she became involved in an adulterous affair with Paolo, her brother in law. Landscape: a violent storm which tosses around the souls. Minos guards this circle.

3rd circle: The Gluttonous. Dante talks to Ciacco, a Florentine, who used to be a parasite, as he was going from people to people, gossiping on everyone. Ciacco gives Dante the first prophecy of his future exile. Landscape: heavy steady rain. Three-headed Cerberus is the guardian.

4th circle: The Avaricious and Prodigals. No relevant character is found here. These souls, mostly clerics, go opposite direction, bumping into each other as they push big rocks. The guardian is Pluto, who makes no sense when he talks.

5th circle: The Wrathful and Sullen. These souls are submerged into the river Styx, which surrounds the city of Dis. The wrathful emerge from the dirty waters while the sullen are completely submerged. Phlegyas will take Dante and Virgil across this river in his boat. Here Dante talks to Filippo Argenti, an old acquaintance for whom he has no pity.

Lower Hell: Violence and Fraud

The city of Dis: High walls with closed doors guarded by devils, helped by the Furies and the Medusa. They try to stop Dante, but a divine messenger forces them to open the door.

6th circle: The Heretics. Dante enters the city and sees a huge cemetery filled with open tombs with fire coming out of them. One of the tombs contains the souls of the Epicureans. Dante talks to Farinata degli Uberti and Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti, father of Guido, the poet, and Dante's friend.

7th circle: The Violent. Introduced by the Minotaur, this circle is divided into three rings:

1) Violent Against their Neighbors (tyrants and murderers). These souls are plunged into a river of boiling blood: the river Phlegethon. They are watched over by the Centaurs.

2) Violent against Themselves (suicides). It is an unnatural forest with leafless trees. These trees are the souls of the suicides. Dante talks to Pier delle Vigne, personal secretary of Frederick II. The trees have no leaves because the Harpies keep plucking them as they sprout. Among the trees Dante sees the souls of the squanderers, chased by bitches.

3) Violent against God and Nature. Blasphemers, Sodomites, etc. Virgil talks to Capaneus, king of ancient Crete, stricken by Zeus's bolt for his rebellion. Then Dante talks to his teacher Brunetto Latini, and later he sees three Florentines, at the edge of the circle.

The river Phlegethon cascades into the eight circle, and there is no path to go down. Dante and Virgil are carried down by a three-nature monster, Geryon.

8th circle: Fraud. It is called Malebolge because it is divided into ten bolge (ditches).

1) Panders and Seducers. These souls are scourged by horned demons. Dante talks to Venedico Caccianemico.

2) Flatterers. These souls are immersed in excrements. Dante talks to Alessio Interminei and the ancient Thais.

3) Simonists. They are set heads down into holes in the rock with flames burning on their feet. Dante talks to Pope Nicholas III, who mistakes him for Boniface VII.

4) Diviners, Astrologers and Magicians. Their heads are turned backwards, so they have to walk backwards. Virgil talks to some ancient people: Amphiaraus, Tiresias, Manto and Eurypylus. Among the modern: Michael Scot,.

5) Barrators. They are plunged into boiling pitch and guarded by ten sneaky demons (Malebranche) led by Malacoda (evil tail). Ciampolo of Navarra (a sinner) succeeds in cheating the demons in a hellish context.

6) Hypocrites. These souls, mostly monks of the Jovial order, walk slowly, clothed in heavy caps of lead. Dante talks to two of them from Bologna.

7) Thieves. These souls keep changing into snakes. Dante recognizes (among others) Vanni Fucci, who predicts the defeat of Dante's party, the Whites, and his exile from the city.

8) Fraudulent Counselors. These souls slide away in the ditch as flames. First Virgil talks to Ulysses, the Homeric hero, then Dante talks to Guido da Montefeltro, a turned saint sneaky character.

9) Sowers of Discord and Schism. These souls are physically torn apart. Dante talks to a few, among them Bertram de Bornio, who holds his severed head like a lamp as he walks along.

10) Falsifiers of metals, persons, coins and words. It is like a huge hospital with people with all kinds of deformities. As in the previous ditch, this too is crowded. Master Adam is the most colorful of them.

9th circle: Treachery. It is divided into four sections. The sinners are in a frozen lake, Cocytus. This circle is surrounded by the Giants. One of them, Antaeus, takes Dante and Virgil and puts them down into the ice.

1) Caina: Traitors to Kin. These are immersed in the ice with head down. Dante talks to Carmiscione de' Pazzi.

2) Antenora: Traitors to Homeland. Dante sees one who keeps biting on another's head. He is Count Ugolino who is gnawing the Archbishop Ruggeri's head. He tells Dante the account of his death.

3) Ptolomea: Traitors to Guests. They are head up in the ice, which is freezing their eyes. Dante talks to Fra Alberigo, who is there while his body is still alive, for having killed his guests as he invited them for dinner.

4) Giudecca: Traitors to Benefactors. These sinners are completely immersed into the ice.

The ice of the 9th circled is kept frozen by Lucifer's six flapping wings. Lucifer has three faces, with three mouths, each chewing on a sinner: Judas is in the middle mouth with his head inside, Brutus and Cassius are in the side mouths, with their heads hanging out.

Ha! I've done one of these-- during one of the innumerable earlier debates on critique v. logrolling

Dante spends time
on critics who lake spine:
obsequiousness borders obscenity.

For there is a pit
leveled with shit
where flatterers spend their eternity.

 

[arienette]

Beware. I just might portrait you.

Umm... I'll have to be on my best behavior for the next 29 days then.

 

[TheRainMan]

4-29 redux

.....

 

[arienette]

Back and trying again... Maybe the fifth time is the charm. Cheating a bit today, wrote this one a few weeks ago but tweaked it a bit just now.

Golden

Sometimes my idea of a perfect gentleman
is that guy with the impressive music collection
playing the same damned song five times in one night
just because I asked
and Tom Waits might as well be God.
Sometimes it's him with the pouch of tobacco
rolling two cigarettes instead of just one
when I've drunk too much to do it myself.
Or loaning me that Bukowski book I hadn't read in six years
and trusting that I'll actually be back to return it
even though we just met two days ago.
The smile on his face while I'm riding his golden tongue...
And no expectations, you know?
Just life.
Living.
Feeling.
Hell, even bleeding.
So how about grabbing that bottle of red...
Let's open the mother
and see where things go from there.

CHEATER!!!
I feel very proud and crap, I completed 30 on my second attempt and going a third round...I doubt I'll make it this time, though; today will be 5 poems and I'm already at a loss.

 

[Sara Crewe]

............

 

[Sara Crewe]

..........

 

[Sara Crewe]

.........

 

[Tzara]

Make the cheque out to S. Crewe, alrighty?

Well, OK.:

Ms. Sara Crewe
Select Seminary for Young Ladies
London​

Sorry. What's the postal code?

 

[wildsweetone]

due to unforseen circumstances i am going to pull out of this thread. my apologies to everyone. i'll try to keep up with reading your great poetry, so long as you all keep up the great writing!

 

[arienette]

due to unforseen circumstances i am going to pull out of this thread. my apologies to everyone. i'll try to keep up with reading your great poetry, so long as you all keep up the great writing!

Awwww. I dont like this, not one little bit!
I hope everything is okay for you there on the homefront. I seem to be going (kind of) strong with this 30 poems shindig.

 

[cherries_on_snow]

Tickle Spot felt like a Hallmark Card. I tend to want more from my poetry than inoffensive and pretty.

Even was also short and simple, which fits with its subject matter. Three lines that make me notice a new aspect of the world are worth more than three hundred showing me what I've already seen before.

Wow. I didn't know Hallmark had started to release erotic cards! Damnit, they stole my idea.

 

[TheRainMan]

4-30

......

 

[cherries_on_snow]

Excellent finish to your challenge, TRM. I really like this, especially the final image. This poem was my breakfast.

With coffee, of course.

 

[Sara Crewe]

Nice finish, TRM. Congrats.





Here's the postal code you needed, Tzara:

1AN GEL


It works with or without the space.

 

[Tzara]

Congratulations, TRM, on another excellent run.

 

[arienette]

.....

 

[champagne1982]

Bodies Instead of Street Blocks

This is very good and gets better on successive reads.

Congratulations on your fine finish Mr. Rainman.

Now, if I can only pull a bit of poetry out of my ass today...

 

[Sara Crewe]

.........

 

[TheRainMan]

Excellent finish to your challenge . . .

Nice finish, TRM. Congrats.

Congratulations, TRM, on another excellent run.

*celebrates*

X 48

 

[Sara Crewe]

.......

 

[champagne1982]

X 4

I should never make multi-purpose posts. Instead I'll say it singly.

Congratulations on your fine finish Mr. Rainman.

.. It's because I'm a rose freak, don't ya know?

 

[TheRainMan]

I should never make multi-purpose posts. Instead I'll say it singly.

.. It's because I'm a rose freak, don't ya know?

sorry, carrie.

i didn't see yours.

X12

 

[cherries_on_snow]

Champagne's right. This is good and gets better each time I read it.

Great job, Arienette. *claps* I especially like the at least how we remembered each other line, but all of it reverberates.

Bodies Instead of Street Blocks

We skip through bodies like old
city street blocks when we used to play
kick ball in the intersections and murky water
left over from a mid-day storm, but were
led on by the rainbow that never came.

We scream 'Tag, you're it!' after we've
finished cleaning up in the morning,
after we look our best again; or at least
how we remembered each other.
Our bed dressed in fresh linen before this
upturned cycle of events started taking over.

We say love when we really mean revenge.
When our glances never wink and we are
fully incapable of smiling anymore.

We stop talking and lock eyes
with the intertwined fabric of the floor.
We do not pity each other any longer
but what our time together has become.

 

[champagne1982]

sorry, carrie.

i didn't see yours.

X12

hahahahaha.. that's better