Month: October 2022

Purgatorio (Anima Sola II)

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A femme figure appears as if lit from below by firelight; she stands in front of a solitary mountain, its single peak backlit by the setting sun, or the first rays of dawn - in this liminal space, it is hard to tell. The figure has cropped dark hair, a pale olive complexion, and she raises her right hand, palm open, which has a bright red-pink blistering burn wound. Her left hand gently grasps her right wrist, and her left pointer finger rests in the center of her right palm. She wears a classical white robe, her shoulders bare. On either side of her, serpentine chains dance on their own accord. The terminal link of each chain has been broken. On the mountain, in the distance, eight iridescent lights scale up the peak. Stars dimly twinkle in the liminal sky above.

With apologies to Mr. Alighieri. Presenting Purgatorio (Anima Sola II), completed October 2022.

Look: she lingers at the bottom. A far cry from the contrition of the blessed souls Dante encountered on his winding way up the mountain; indeed, watch as she creeps down again. Don’t pray for her! She chose this, and is marked by it. She’s looking for something.

130 Cinque volte racceso e tante casso
131 lo lume era di sotto da la luna,
132 poi che ’ntrati eravam ne l’alto passo,

133 quando n’apparve una montagna, bruna
134 per la distanza, e parvemi alta tanto
135 quanto veduta non avëa alcuna.

Five times rekindled and as many quenched
Had been the splendour underneath the moon,
Since we had entered into the deep pass,

When there appeared to us a mountain, dim
From distance, and it seemed to me so high
As I had never any one beheld.

–Inferno 26, The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri

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