a tale of tails, tenacity, and tedium, as told by me, usually barefoot and bellowing

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

In The Seventh Layer

a thorny tree deformed
bears poison fruit
caught between bloody rivers
and flaming sand
eternal impalement
of my own making
awaits

Choosing the seventh layer, second circle of Dante's Inferno, his epic poem describing nine layers of hell.  I also used seven lines for Poets Untied prompt of Seventh anything.

23 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

No, don't impale yourself!

Anonymous said...

The greatest sadness is in what we do to ourselves.

21 Wits said...

Beautifully put! It serves equally well toward the evil doers alive within the world today. You'll understand my meaning with my post of today.

Sherry Blue Sky said...

Wow, this is a clever response to the prompt. Scary, the "eternal impalement"!

Sketching with Dogs said...

Wow, very profound!
Lynne x

Susan Kane said...

Nooo. No impalement allowed.

MadSnapper said...

ok, gotta say this one is beyond me. not a poet gene in my body..

alan1704 said...

Oh this is very thought provoking and you make it work.

Susan said...

Inspired. How we trap ourselves, animals, all in this circle ... a hell of our own making. There is the tiniest hint in your poem of more to come--more descent but then rising again.

Anonymous said...

Doesn't sound like any place I want to be.

Jae Rose said...

Impalements of our own making certainly are one of the worst kinds of hell...captivating and powerful poem

Mary said...

The last stanza tells me that there are we as humans are so often responsible for our own impalement! An interesting take on the prompt.

jp@A Green Ridge said...

Gail.....this s a passing thing, right???...:)JP

Buttons Thoughts said...

Gail I have always thought you were clever with your words and talent. Hug B

Unknown said...

I can feel a little bit of suggestive metaphor in here that leans towards the apple from the Garden of Eden (poison fruit) and the description of making a sinful expression towards the end. The list style that you used is kind of different and unique compared to the material that you represented here. I almost would have done a haiku, but I like that you personalized this.

Old Egg said...

The important thing here is that realizing your errors, faults, mistakes is the the first step to correcting them and forgiveness...you hope!

Helen A. Howell said...

Oh how we punish ourselves eh! Nice writing!

Farm Girl said...

That is nice writing. I have to admit I read through your comments and laughed myself silly. You have some very interesting commenters.
I like that you are always stretching yourself in your writing.

Rosemary Nissen-Wade said...

Yikes! Succinct and vivid; I don't want to go there!

Gen Giggles said...

A very interesting choice the hell of your own making. Well written.

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...

Great!!! I could write of the seven layers I had on this mornin' doin' my outside chores! Heeeehehehe!

God bless ya, snuggle in and hug a fireplace. :o)

Lynne said...

Do not impale self . . . great piece Gail!

Kathryn Dyche said...

Ooooh I love this.

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