Palinode XVI

Palinode XVI


We thought we
had forgiven him,

our father who
abandoned

us for another
family,

but everyone,
without exception,

arrives here
with thoughts

worse than murderous.
We will

make him
empty the sea

with a teaspoon,
or

run 1000 km
in circles

small as a
pinhead,

or pin his dick
in a nest

of fire ants.
I can’t decide

what’s most
fitting for the man. You

are the poet,
descendant of Dante

and ancient hellish Chinese
imaginings.

What
do you recommend?


 Gustave Doré's depiction of Minos judging sinners at the start of Canto V of Dante's Inferno

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