Canto 8 The Styx voyage, Philippo Argenti, the travellers are denied entry to the city of Dis

Flames on tower roof
And torchlight on the dark waves...
"Virgil, what is it?"

"Signal Flares, a boat
speeds to us on the water."
Our ship has come in.

Enraged I'm alive
Phlegyas argues with us,
we get in the boat.

The Styx froths with rage
A damned soul calls out to me
I recognise him

Phillip Argenti
An abusive memory
"I weep without end"

"Then cry forever,
I have no pity for you"
I kick at his face.

Virgil's glad blessing
on me echoes the Ave
A strange sound in Hell

That soul is attacked
I thank God for the violence
as our boat speeds past

We reach the far shore
The City of Dis burns bright
Guarded by Devils

The Rebel Angels
Mock Virgil and damn my life
Virgil speaks with them

He leaves me alone
I'm scared, my doubts eat at me
we're locked out of Dis

Virgil consoles me
God has sent us an Angel
Alone it speeds forth.

Canto 7 the circles of Greed and Wrath, Fortune and The Styx

The Demon Plutus
Screams "Pape Satan, Pape
Satan Aleppe"

The shouts of Virgil
Silence the deamon of wealth.
The Circle of Greed.

An eternal fight
"Why Hoard?" "Why Spend?" The crowd seethes
Bloody and violent

Bald heads and clenched fists
And the corrupt of the Church
All are Fortune's Marks

Virgil lectures me
"Fortunes will shapes Fortune's things.
As we curse she smiles."

Climbing down the hill
we follow a fetid stream
to the river Styx

A burping swampland.
Those angry and those bitter
Fight and drown in it

We follow the shore
The stars say it's midnight here
A tall black tower.

Dante updates I finally finished Canto 28! Also 7 and 8 will find there way up here today

It's about bloody time! I stayed home from work today and decided that I wouldn't leave the apartment until I had worked on Dante It's a good thing too because it's brutally hot outside. I watered the garden then ate some food and wrote Canto 28 (fucking finally) and drew an illustration for Canto 5 I've also decided that since it's so hot and my day's work is basically shot (unless I went out and did it really late into the night) I should do canto's 7 and 8 here today and then relax with some mid period Swans and my modular synthesizer...





Here's some Swans for you:

delays and delays... in the mean time watch this video

I've been set back by medical stuff and the distinct possibillity that my wife and I'll be moving house at the end of September. I'll get another canto done tonight and posted. I find it really fascinating how when I began this as a rough draft I was doing a canto per night or more sometimes and then gradually things slowed down and now it's a struggle sometimes to get the work done.

I've never been very good at second drafts or anything of that sort so this is a real challenge though a rewarding one.

anyway appologies for the continuing delays and setbacks.

I ought to say this again

I'm hoping that this effort to post my second draft here will inspire you to comment with your thoughts, and criticism. I havn't been as regular with updates as I'd like but it's coming, slowly. I'm grateful for your patience. All five of you... :)

Canto 6: Gluttons, Judgement, and a prophecy

Canto 6

Freezing rain and slime
I came to among gluttons
Torn by Cerberus

Three Headed, Hell hound
The demon wolf howls, insane
We throw slime, it feasts

A shade calls to me
His name was once Ciacco
He was from my town.

He whispers something
“The whites and the blacks wage a war,
The bloodshed won't stop...

The Pope helps both sides
two men speak truth to power
but no one listens.”

Looking pale he falls
back in his own filth... eating
I ask after friends.

I'm told they're below.
As we leave Virgil tells me
About the Judgement...

When the trumpet blows
All souls return to their graves
And regain their flesh

The Harsh Arbiter
Shall read the fate of each soul
And all will hear it.

I asked my guide then,
What will it be like after
God's judgement is read?

Perfect pain and joy
All things are renewed by fire,
And tempered in coals

Our conversation
Continues as we follow
The curved walls of Hell

A wide, downward path
The enemy of mankind
Waits in Circle Four.

Canto 5: Minos and the Circle of Lust

Canto 5

We descend steps from
The land of hopeless heroes
And enter worse Hell

At the circle’s edge
Minos, the judge of fresh souls
Throws them in the pit

The dark stormy void
Swallows them, hungry, ancient
To land where they should

The demon sees us
“Be careful who you trust here”
It knows I’m not dead

The warning from Hell
Is countered by my guide who
Spits back at Minos

“This trip is God’s will
And it’s no concern of yours”
As we walk past him

A dark razor wind
Bodies, battered paper cranes
The lustful curse God

Don Juan, Warren Jeffs,
Tristan and Isold, all thrown
Through storm and rubble

Two souls entwined drift
Gracefully on the updraft
Virgil calls them near

Francesca and Paul
Float closer and tell their tale
Tragic and painful

A crime of passion
Sent us here, lust for each other
A one time mistake

My husband’s brother…
He can never leave my side
The man’s silent tears

When we were found out
My husband murdered us both
He suffers deeper.

Overcome by grief
And feeling giddy, I faint
The human storm cries.

Dante update

So I started to do some illustrations to offset the feeling of doing nothing. I think I've discovered a way forward on Canto 28 at last as well and hope to get back into it when I wake up. I was also listening to the old recording sessions I did with The Empire of Crime and wonder what exactly needs to be added at all? I should try and meet up with Mark and listen to them all with him then figure out if and what we need to do anything to them now. I kind of like the really minimal and ambient sound of this track

Inferno 3 by Desolation Sound

and I'm wondering whether or not it's a complete piece as it is.

Canto 4: Limbo

Canto 4

I woke on far shore
Virgil looks down and turns pale
The un-baptised woods

The cries of infants
Sinless souls, a crowd packed tight
None were born again

Once the Lord came down
To rescue Hebrew prophets
Before that, none left

Virgil says he lives
Here in this hopeless valley
Before us, a fire

Great poets: Homer
Horace, Ovid and Lucan
And they welcome me.

And now we are six
We talk of things kept secret
A distant castle

Seven walls, a stream
We entered, crossing the stream
Walking on water.

Inside the castle
Is a lush meadow valley
Past seven stone gates

Hollow and solemn
The heroes of history
Mourn fate together

Now six becomes two
As we leave my heart aches to
Free them all from Hell.

Canto #3: The Gates of Hell

“I am the gateway
To the city of the damned
And pain without end

I am the gateway
To the forgotten people
Whose cries go unheard

Justice, the builder
Omnipotence, the foreman
With Wisdom and Love

Among the First Things
I stand, Abandon all hope
You who enter me.”

That cruel warning
Ate my courage, I felt sick:
“Virgil I can’t go.”

“Don’t let fear rule you”
The brave, voice of calm reason
Urging me to trust.

Hand in trusting hand
Virgil guided me into
The mouth of the pit.

We walked into the
Dark terror and flies and saw
The mob Hell refused.

The Lukewarm holler
And demand entry to Hell
Their cries unanswered.

These Souls did nothing:
They lived in neutrality
In death they’re ignored

Here, on the threshold
Mixed with Angel bystanders
Look, and pass them by.

An empty standard
Flies above long rows of souls
The Moral Cowards

Plagued and stung by wasps
Their blood and tears mix with mud
And puss and maggots.

And now a line forms
Of fools who want to see Hell
This confuses me

My guide explains that
All those who hate God wait here
To cross Acheron

A stagnant river
The Boatman shouts, I can’t pass
Earth Quake and I faint.

Henry Rollins is awsome

Canto #2: Virgil and Beatrice and Divine Intercession

Canto #2

The day fades to dusk
All creation stops it’s work
I’m alone with doubt

Oh Muses help me
At war with myself I try
To tell what happened:

I sat down in fear
Who am I to walk through Hell?
I’m not a brave man

I’m not Aeneas,
and not Paul, I'm nobody
I don’t think I can.

In pity my guide
Said: “it’s human cowardice
That makes you speak so

I was sent for you
A woman named Beatrice
Braved Hell to find me

And she made the trip
At the request of Mary
And Saint Lucia

Mary pities you
These women want to see you,
I am to guide you.”

Amazed I told him
Beatrice was my first love
My heart died with her

“If this is the truth
You must follow me Dante
The way up is down.

This trip will purge you
Of the fear that holds you fast
And dims your spirit

These ladies hold you
In their hearts, such protection
Few souls ever know.”

With resolve I said
“You are my guide and teacher
And I will follow.”

I got up and walked
With Virgil through the forest
I’m still not that brave.

Canto #1: The Woods Woke Me Up

So I said in my last post that I would begin updating with whole cantos as a way to resume the editorial process so here we go! I don't have summary paragraphs for any of these yet and I'm on the fence about whether to write any or not. Anyway here's Draft #2 of Canto #1 I hope to update here nightly or almost nightly. Please feel free to leave comments if you have something constructive to add I want this to be very much a part of the editing process. It's getting to a point now where if I don't start to find new and interactive ways to work on this project I fear it will never be fully realised and I don't want to let it slide.

Canto #1

The woods woke me up
A history of fainting
I was middle aged

Wrong turns brought me here
Now looking for a way out
I started my climb

A steep hike uphill
A leopard blocked my path, then
a lion, I hid

Now starting again
I was scared to stop my climb
Stalked by a large wolf

I escaped, but lost
Walking in the wilderness
I see an old man.

I called out, he stopped
Running to him, ghost or man
No care, just gladness

“My name is Virgil
poet, born under Caesar
I wove Aeneid”

Please, can you help me?
I loved your poem deeply,
Now I find I’m lost.

“Why do you retreat?
Why don’t you climb this mountain,
The font of all joy?”

I told of the wolf
Bloody fur and mad hunger
Tired crying fear

“That wolf blocks all souls
What she won’t eat she mates with
The body of greed

One day a grey hound
Will come to end all terror
Hunting down the beast

He won’t fear hunger,
True virtue will be His food
He comes for Justice

His hunt will go on
Until the wolf is forced back
Through the jaws of Hell

Which is her true home
The gates will close and the land
Will know true freedom.

But now, come with me
We must, by a different road
Reach the mountain’s peak

I can be your guide
Through the deep eternal void
Where all is fire

Then through purgation
Where the dross is cleansed from souls
Singing as they climb

And to Peter’s Gate
For I can go no further
Than my sins forbid”

Virgil, I beg you,
Where you lead I will follow
For God’s sake, let’s go.

videos! And Dante Updates!

hey I made two new youtube videos for the one or two people who read this blog I hope you enjoy them!

Gristleizer


Chaquo


Also it's worth mentioning that I still have little idea how to move forward with The Inferno. I've come to the conclusion that I can't use the bishops responsible for the great schism, or if I do I need to bear constantly in mind that though their selfishness and persuit of power caused a thousand year and counting rift in the church out of which all sorts of horrors have spilled, if it had not been for that first breach there would not be the richness or variety of Christian theology we see today so though the church was rent in two God has made something better in it's place.

I keep coming back to the saying "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" and as my friend Barrett remarked Inferno is a bag of rocks. All the more reason to try and stop the stone throwing because it's my belief that beyond the judgemental and sometimes bigotted attitudes presented in Dante's Hell there is a higher purpose to all this and a greater message and that's what I want to get to the heart of in my attempts to paraphrase it.

Soon I am going to begin posting Cantos to this blog in an effort to include you in the editing process and to fully begin writing the second draft. If it remains in a word doc on my work computer it may never get finished.