Sensational imagery, Max. The ghostly fish extends that metaphor so
beautifully too.
Bill
On Wednesday, 18 May 2016, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Poetry can help locate us in the everyday but also remind us of the
> resounding mystery in life, think of Philip Larkin constructing a religion
> from water, or William Carlos Williams noticing that red wheelbarrow or
> Sharon Olds imagining The Pope’s Penis, which “hangs deep in his robes, a
> delicate clapper at the center of a bell”.
>
>
> http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/17/poetry-human-therapy-mental-health
>
> http://genius.com/Sharon-olds-the-popes-penis-annotated
> It hangs deep in his robes, a delicate
> clapper at the center of a bell.
> It moves when he moves, a ghostly fish in a
> halo of silver seaweed, the hair
> swaying in the dark and the heat — and at night
> while his eyes sleep, it stands up
> in praise of God.
>
>
> ABOUT “THE POPE'S PENIS” 2 contributors
> 1
> Charlie Macnamara 577
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> Created by Charlie Macnamara 2 years ago
> Sharon Olds explores what goes on behind the facade of religion and
> underneath the Pope’s robes: How the Pope is necessarily connected to the
> sexual, whatever vows he makes.
>
> This poem originally appeared in her book, “The Gold Cell,” which was
> published in 1987. At the time, Pope John Paul II reigned over the Church.
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