Opvs Inseqvens​

Issue 17

Saint Anthony, after all, may have domesticated
those demons who had erstwhile been harassing
him, made so vivid, famous in a centuries’ string
 
of oil and canvas, so a sequel from inspired brushes
should be in the offing depicting the Father of Monks
managing his menagerie of the misshapen no longer
 
badgering but just benignly misbehaving in their pens
of stone (the stuff of pyramids!) floored with the prevalent
sand as the master pats their snouts with a holy hand
 
and blesses them with a sanctified smile before passing
on to the next former irritation to whom he might toss
a chuckle, a savory bone for the beasts who now glut, snore,
 
and sleep in satisfaction for the morsel dispensed in the guise
of a rise gotten from him, given freely from the heart and soul
of the disciplined man who has learned to accept himself.

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John Zedolik has published poems in many journals around the world and recently published his sixth collection, Triple Muse. His other collections are Lovers’ Progress, 2025; The Ramifications, 2024; Mother Mourning, 2023; When the Spirit Moves Me, 2021; and Salient Points and Sharp Angles, 2019, which are available through Amazon

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