“Gorgoneia”

As players of Assassin’s Creed: Revelations may know, in the Basilica Cistern underneath Istanbul there are two monumental gorgon heads used as the footing for pillars. The first time I saw a photo of one of them, I got chills . . . and also, I found myself thinking of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem “Ozymandias.” To me, the vibes are similar, of something powerful now reduced to ruins.

I could write a pastiche of one of the most famous sonnets in the entire English language, right? That wasn’t an act of unmitigated hubris, right???

Well, I’m not going to claim my poem is on an equal footing with Shelley’s, but I succeeded in achieving the effect I wanted! And The Rialto Books Review (who previously published “Among the Briars”) has purchased it for their Vol.031.