The sonnet sequence, "My Human Disguise," of 600 ekphrastic poems, was begun February 2011 and completed January 15, 2022. It can be found beginning with the January 20, 2022 post and working backwards. Going forward are 20 poems called "Terzata," beginning on January 27, 2022. Thirty more Terzata can be found among the links on the right. A new series of dramatic monologues follows on the blog roll, followed by a series of formal poems, each based on a single word.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
The Temptation of St. Anthony (Dali)
#43
Temptation does not walk on legs
As long and thin as giraffe stilts.
It stomps like an elephant on eggs
Until it's churned a mess of guilt.
All the legends are full of denial,
As if that's all it took to be godly.
The desert is an empty trial
And determination works, oddly,
Better than love, if all you want
Is not to know physical love, riches,
Beauty, or the power of the tyrant.
I love how the hair shirt itches.
Angry, the Lord said, Make a life!
Work, charity, children, and wife.
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