Hobnobbing with the Philosophers: The Carrion

Detail from “The School of Athens”
a fresco by Raphael (1483 – 1520)
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By Maik Strosahl

The Rattle Foundation's publication “Rattle” is a very tough nut to crack for a lot of poets. They receive a lot of submissions and are very selective.
    Each month they do an Ekphrastic challenge and present a piece of art as a prompt. I have had several very good pieces come from this practice, but none has ever been one of the two chosen to be featured (one chosen by the artist and the other by the editor).
    “The Carrion” was inspired by Rattle’s October 2020 Challenge: a black and white photo of a cairn built on a beach with the dark shadow of a big bird in the background. As the world was just then dealing with the unknowns of a new disease swirling the planet, the photo seemed to reflect the pessimistic mood that many were sharing at the time.

The Carrion

Cruel the raven that
haunts our shores,
cruel the crows that
pick our bones,
feasting on the flesh
we have shed in living this life,
leaving this strife behind:
the coughing and wheezing
the difficulty breathing corporal
by rule of law,
by the rules of profit.

Cruel the vultures
not willing to wait on the dying—
cruel all these carrion birds—
swooping with a lack of patience
at those still counting their blessings,
those still building cairn along the shore,
for proof beyond their ravaged bones
that they were here
and this contagion
did not kill their spirit,
this virus
did not take their soul.

Copyright © 2023 by Maik Strosahl Michael E. Strosahl has focused on poetry for over twenty years, during which time he served a term as President of the Poetry Society of Indiana. He relocated to Jefferson City, Missouri, in 2018 and currently co-hosts a writers group there.