Infero redux
Posted: December 20th, 2014, 3:28 pm
I know the place Dante was talking about
this place exists in the human dimension
as Philip Lamantia said to me once, "we are
not just poets" and so Dante was not just a poet
he was that and something more, what that is
is one of those mysterious things, deep
in history, that also stands outside of history
to contemplate the depths of Dante's mind
is to have a raven's eye view of the depths
of human misery and depravity
we have passed over some point of no return
so one would have to imagine the Inferno as a kind
of telescope oh looking glass into the human condition
and looking into this journey through the seven circles
of hell, one would see to the core and beyond
that is where the point is located now, the one of departure
is the one of entry, and the whole thing turned inside out
and we have arrived where all the poetry used to describe
this descending ascent through and beyond what we can
conceive of, considering that some things are unthinkable
have we not arrived in the middle of the meaning of hell
at this time in American imagination, when torture is
used to keep us numb and dumbed down, when a vice
president, says, "I would torture again"
truly the evil powers that be, would torture again
because they always have, they did it in Dante's age
and they do it now, but now they do it with television
and torture us with lies and deception, and more god dammed lies
this place exists in the human dimension
as Philip Lamantia said to me once, "we are
not just poets" and so Dante was not just a poet
he was that and something more, what that is
is one of those mysterious things, deep
in history, that also stands outside of history
to contemplate the depths of Dante's mind
is to have a raven's eye view of the depths
of human misery and depravity
we have passed over some point of no return
so one would have to imagine the Inferno as a kind
of telescope oh looking glass into the human condition
and looking into this journey through the seven circles
of hell, one would see to the core and beyond
that is where the point is located now, the one of departure
is the one of entry, and the whole thing turned inside out
and we have arrived where all the poetry used to describe
this descending ascent through and beyond what we can
conceive of, considering that some things are unthinkable
have we not arrived in the middle of the meaning of hell
at this time in American imagination, when torture is
used to keep us numb and dumbed down, when a vice
president, says, "I would torture again"
truly the evil powers that be, would torture again
because they always have, they did it in Dante's age
and they do it now, but now they do it with television
and torture us with lies and deception, and more god dammed lies