The Last Judgement

Below is an ekphrastic poem written about The Last Judgment by Michelangelo.

Ironic, the Pope commissioning a gay man

to grant him a masterpiece.

Angels and the virgin Mary do appear,

but gargoyle-like trumpeters,

and a man holding his skin like a discarded itchy sweater

certainly bring the burning of hell under any apathetic asses.

I doubt the Pope was thrilled with the depiction

of his scrotum gripped in the Devil’s jaws,

or a gross distortion of the holy who revel,

graphic beheadings and torture of martyrs,

or the fate of sinners who writhe and scream.

A sure-fire way to inspire piety,

but the faithful who enter

and notice the grotesque muscles

may not be aware

of the subtle “fuck you” flair.

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