The Descent (False translation from Canto II, Dante’s Inferno)

The sun sets and genius departs. Coat toggled

against brute air, its animal smile,

facetious leer. Solitary,

I have come to appreciate how war kept us

against softness, guarding

pavements full of daisies and pity.

Muses are the lowest of the low,

mutant imbeciles, scribing in their drool,

portraits of mute nobility.

Io, cow-eyed, comical if it weren’t pathetic.

That’s the price of virtue,

of possession, passion, devotion.

The black minute's at end (Robert Browning)

mesquite haze

and through smoke and netting

bramble beaten back blackberry

have sucked and sawed three fingers prove

fires barge un doused burn to edges

whine song pickled men

and dogs the ladies

pull their hair out here

vanity here all

injury the heart

broken this fist bruise in declaration

Then was the fear a little quieted…(False translation from Canto I)

Allure of promise: one tiny moment,

furious water chastened, the hardened heart

will release its knotted grip, by touch of pity

and she will come and fan out her hair

against all darkness, rising from unknown places,

at her feet foam of danger and desire.

Because these pebbles are our own, pulling our pockets.

Excavate our uncles’ hipbones in the desert

and wonder if they passed this way on foot,

if clamorous or mud loved,

molting toward

morning or mausoleum.

False translation from Canto I, The Divine Comedy

Nearly midway to meaning’s

pasts and selves underlid

rises a directive under smeared ashes

Coral bruises and the cacao tree

gasps at your hard passage

surprised thought is as hard as that

Tomorrow beckons come little darling

await death on this bench with a little umbrella

in your scorching drink

Empty your pockets to the ground

the dove was born mourning

she and the valley are drawn each to the other

Confused as to who is the jailer

of the sweet spate ragged living is

diddling on the piano while drooling

Fury is strangely quiet as

the sun’s corona or the lake

of her iris giving and pitying

and a lightness / in their chests / came true (Michael Sikkema)

fireside heartcoal

sooty ribbon ribs crawl flames

speaking in

tin can high

hat snare

go thither joey pocketful

darkness and wishes

hideyhole salt away

caramels smeary

treasure weighted

evidence you ate

candyheart lagrimas

aromas stir up ash

set it loose

He will nurse his terror carefully (Basil Bunting)

spring furies seasons are dark

promise terror

is scrap fed greasy fingers

empty plate proof proverbs

clamp testicle and teats

I will never love

as I have loved the day

one

driest eye blinks

and stares