Here is the image for the May Poetry Invite to Write.

Vortex of Hell (From "Dante's Inferno") by Sandro Botticelli, manuscript illustration, c. 1500, Florence, Italy

From the Book of Symbols

"Botticelli’s intricately chambered mountain would fit inside the hollow cavity of Dante’s Inferno, which it depicts. By purging oneself of the traits that cast one into these hellish depths, one could ascend Mount Purgatory and regain Paradise. Manuscript illustration, ca. 1500, Italy"

"Visible from a dozen provinces, Fujisan is the “center of the world” in a country that is 85 percent mountainous—an active volcano that is paradoxically the guardian of the nation. Originally a place for the disposal of the dead, medieval Japan’s pine-covered slopes sprouted yama-miya (mountain shrines) inhabited by yamabushi (mountain-sleepers), whose Shugendō practices included ceremonial mountain-climbing to absorb magical powers (EoR 13:302-5)."

We look forward to what this images inspires in your poetry. Please post your poems here on the forum. Thank you!

- ARAS