Canto XV

First Draft

Its monday morning and I have a clearer picture of what I want from the project.

Goals

No 1: It should be 34 cantos of 90 lines per canto with 45 rhyming couplets per canto.

No 2: It should include 9 paintings

No 3: It should be layed out in book form with 1 color printing

No 4: It should include full annotation and indexing

No 5: It should be nearly unintelligible

The Plan

For the most part the plan is the same, however instead of the poem being finished (as if it were) when posted, thats kind of the first step now. I'll go back and edit out or add lines to get to the required lenght. So first pass just to get through, next pass to get to the required lenght and then final pass for the final lick and polish. Then onto the illustration and design phase, print prep and proofing and all that bingo.

Without further...

So set we on this dreadful path 1
And made our way cross land of wrath
Then Virgil cautions where to walk
Avoiding sand that blows like chalk 4
That burned like phosphor all it touched
Till enveloped in fire brushed
The sinners charred their bodies black
No hope for them, no going back 8
As moved they round in roving gangs
With cries and wails as they harangued
As watched I vision made of despair
I choking then in dust filled air 12
And looking back I could not see
The wood beyond the rising heat
And all about were giant banks
That rose in rows in rank on rank 16
A thousand lines like ocean dykes
Like ramparts yet not half that high
So Virgil lectures as we stroll
And spells it out, how sinners roll 20
'The blighters suffer in three types
Some run, some sit, some forced to lie
Dependant on their dreadful sin
Their fate dictate in seventh ring 24
Now those supine of first kind
Are blasphemers (The most maligned.)
And left they are to shout their lot
Is blasphemy they lost the plot 28
The second type that run about
As beat they hands and loud they shout
Are those whose souls in act most vile
The thought of which does raise my bile 32
When choice of oysters over snails
They lusted after arse's pale
Need I say more?' he pointed said
Considered lines between lines read 36
'The souls that run in seventh sphere
Their crime was one of being queer.'
So moved we on while sinners ran
In groups, or sat or lay on sand 40
Then noticed I a group of souls
That once I'd seen in Broadway show
And called I one like rabid fan
Who turned to me with face all tan 44
And though his features burnt and dry
The ghost of Cary Grant I spied
And asked I then he stay awhile
But looked at me and sadly smiled 48

So, 48 lines and I still have the description of the torments of circle seven and a description of the comrades of the ghost of Cary Grant. I thought of using the most beloved homosexual actors, writers and musicians. Beloved.

Thats what hells all about you see. People you love. Thats what makes it all so funny and so tragic. Hell is an invention thats designed to hold and punish people that we love. Hell is the idea that people we know will suffer for eternity because of their own failures in a world of choice. By the standards of sin set out in the Inferno we would all be in Hell.

Canto XV Part 2

'Whoever for a moment stops
Four hundred years in place he's locked 50
Against the burning flames that strike
His arms are set so cannot fight
No, rather you go on your road
And follow I will toil below.' 54
'Who are your friends?' I queried him
'These others here who have stooped to sin?'
And answered me in shame he told
Of sin for which his soul was sold 58
And pointed then to Jimmy Dean
And Bogarde, Brando, Brenden Behan
Then names he Liberace's name
And Leonardo sashays by in shame 62
As Michelangelo stumbles past
And contemplates his Judgment Last
There in the pack was Oscar Wilde
Who ran with Marlow by his side 66
And Ren & Stimpy, Mr. Smithers
Suffered under fires withered
And in the rear by glee was tailed
The leering ghost of James Whale
For those on earth who light on toes
Their souls in Hell are bound to go 72
Those sinners in that frantic train
Here down in Hell in burning rain 74

And the final part written on tuesday morning. I had to change the events of the canto around to get it to flow a little better. Although sodomy is the recognized sin of the runners in circle seven they are not referred to beyond a reference to one who sinned 'straining his tendons.'

Rather hilarious, don't you think. Now for the finish.

I threw in Brenden Behan, btw, not because he's gay, but he did the write The Quare Fellow which contains a homosexual, oh and a prison.

Okay, so I need an 16 line out to get to the next canto and the usurers beyond.

I've further identified some fictional gay characters in popular entertainment so I'm going to put a few references to TV etc.

Still quite a bit to go but enough for tonight

And heres the finish

Canto XV Part 3

Then reaching point we gained a place
The ghost of Grant resumes his race 76
And even as he moves from me
His voices raised in prophecy
And tells me of the things I'll do
When journey has been journeyed through 80
And called I back to racing ghost
(Who looked to catch his former post.)
And told him that I didn't care
For God and Fortune, great and fair 84
Would see me on my proper road
I'd go where ever Fortune blow-ed
My master nods and seems well pleased
As move we through this land diseased 88

So, thats the first draft and I'm out of target by 2 lines, but thats easily fixed later.

Now on to canto XVI. Once thats done I'll be ready for XVII which is halfway through the Inferno and so therefore a kind of milestone.