Sunday 10 April 2022

Hieronymus Bosch Sequence of Poems by Alan Catlin




Hieronymus Bosch Sequence


Pitchfork wielders,

eye holes poked

anew–a covey of crows.



Drawn and quartered

from the belly

of an ox; four nightmares

at once.



Deathwatch beadles:

high hats,

high heels–no morals.



Meal and maggot mush

food for

the forsaken.



Line dancing on

gibbets: a tumbrel

a tumbrel a day keeps

the hangman at bay.



Owls of attribution

sit on gallows

trees, waiting.



Alan Catlin has been publishing fort he better part of six decades.  His most recent full length books include Memories Too (Dos Madres) and  The Road to perdition (Alien Buddha). 

2 comments:

  1. Sort of like your "late-night-at-the-bar" poems

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  2. Love the poems. I've always loved Bosch ever since I discovered him 60 years ago, but I admit I never studied his images too closely, since they're creepy beyond belief.

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