In the Garden of Earthly Delights

Joshua Daniel Edwin

After Bosch

 

Your reward is freedom:

you can cannibal
cleave off ears
whittle with your brothers
eat long pig.

String up the brunette:

outstretch his ecstasy of arms
tight as harpwires
rake his stave of ribs
stuff the apple in his mouth.

Shelter? In the whale-oil lantern.

Mortal sins punch your ticket here
welcome to my fiefdom
as pride predicates a fall
your will prepares my meals.


Joshua Daniel Edwin studied poetry and literary translation at Columbia University. His poetry haunts the internet courtesy of The Adirondack Review, Avatar Review, and Feathertale. His translations of Dagmara Kraus' poetry have appeared or are forthcoming with Asymptote, no man's land, Argos Books and Anomalous Press and were awarded a PEN Translation Fund grant in 2012. He is a member of the editorial board for the magazine Circumference: Poetry in Translation, which you can visit at circumferencemag.com.