Victor Marrero’s Atlas, Bound Offers Hymns for The Oppressed, Hope for The Downtrodden by Jennifer O’Grady

Atlas, Bound, Victor Marrero’s striking first collection of poems, takes its inspiration from Michelangelo’s unfinished sculptures known as the “Four Prisoners,” or “Four Slaves,” housed at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence. Begun by the artist as embellishments for a pope’s tomb, the statues appear to be both carrying—and struggling to emerge from—the partially chiseled marble that contains and obscures them. The book’s opening poem, “Variations … Continue reading Victor Marrero’s Atlas, Bound Offers Hymns for The Oppressed, Hope for The Downtrodden by Jennifer O’Grady

Unfinished* by Victor Marrero

1       He carved what he carved and left them, just as they are. And so they stayed from that moment on. Untouched. Undone. Four figureson display model, a mold cast aside. Their striking postures style mastery unbounded by matter or mind, immured to imperfection.  The coarse-grain stones languished in the rough, imprisoned in solid vaults quarried from their native rock while the master lived and worked … Continue reading Unfinished* by Victor Marrero