michelangelo's seizure

Supper at Emmaus Caravaggio

One of the perks of my job: opening up the interesting mail that comes for the Associate Provost for Enrollment. Yeah, a lot of it is total junk. Or from people/institutions trying to impress him. I suppose the announcement from Seton University of the imminent publishing of a professor's book of poetry, including the title poem in its entirety, might come under the category of the latter. But...oh, my...oh, my -- what a poem. A tantalizing doorway into Steve Gerhke's world of marrying painters to poetry.

Of course, I cannot in good conscience print the entire text of the poem here. But, I assure you, an excerpt will do, if you're looking to be hooked.

"...with the witchcraft hushed inside his veins,
onto the flayed skin of St. Bartholomew, crumpled, fierce,
with two dead bugs crushed into the paint, like that bit of
terror, he would think, sealed inside of everything He makes."
--From the title poem Michelangelo's Seizure

The volume includes Caravaggio as a subject. Another reason to order mine, post haste.