Laocoön
This figure of complexity
persuades a lingering
glance, the two-fold
inclination entwined,
horror expressed
in tandem, the sons’
limbs compressed
as the father struggles,
realizing true
sacrifice, the inward
grasp of storm and
wrath and serpent,
his face
echoing those yet
to come, breached
walls, a city in
flames, the cries
of warnings unheeded.
Laocoön, through Virgil’s Aeneid, is the source of the phrase “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.” The poem, which first appeared in The Blue Hour Magazine, was inspired by the sculpture “Laocoön and His Sons,” which resides at the Vatican. You might find Wikipedia’s entry of interest. Originally posted on the blog in February 2016.
O at the Edges 
I once had my writing unfavorably compared to that statue. It was for a college exam in Critical Literary Theory and it was true teaching moment.
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Ouch. I might have been forever turned off of poetry had I even taken a course in critical literary theory. 🙂 I was not a motivated student (except when I was).
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It was actually a really interesting class. It was one where everyone consistently freaked out, but I just enjoyed it. And the lesson I learned from my professor: sentences don’t need to be long.
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A good lesson! I’ve actually thought about auditing some theory courses – they’d be much more interesting to me now – and might do so one of these years.
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They’re interesting, and it’s fun to see how just seriously everyone takes it. Well, except maybe me 😀
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I’d likely be the old oddball in the class. A position I might relish…
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Thankyou Robert, read your poem, then read the Wikipedia’s article, Laocoon and His Son’s, and back to rereading your poem, and now knowing about the story, your words became even more wonderous. !!
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This tale has stayed with me since I first read it some 50 years ago. Virgil was no slouch!
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Yes, an interesting read, hmmm, 50 years ago, hope you were still a teenager .
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A preteen, Ivor, but I read a lot. 😐
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I could see the sculpture as I read. Good one.
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Then I did my job properly!
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Intriguing post 😊
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Thank you.
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