Self portrait
In her latest poem, Unite's Joy Johnson reflects on artist and revolutionary Caravaggio and his work
Reading time: 2 min
Out of Caravaggio
Vengeful son of the city
gracing church walls
subverting sacred allusion.
Came Caravaggio
Out of the canvass
came a revolutionary.
By his own hand
with his own struggles.
A spectator bearing witness
On scenes of brutality.
Out of darkness
came a ray of melancholy.
A ray of blasphemous reality.
Madonna’s bloated body,
bare legs cracked skin.
Death of the Virgin
Out of the light
came the muscular assassin
ready to strike the fatal blow.
Reaching for the angel
Matthew the martyr.
Out of repentance.
Came a brutal Caravaggio.
A fateful confession
begging for a papal pardon.
David the slayer of Goliath
held his severed head.
By Joy Johnson, Unite political department
