We went to the stunningly beautiful Borghese Gallery on Sunday where we saw the equally stunningly beautiful sculptures by Bernini –The Rape of Persephone

and his Apollo and Daphne.

Ovid writes about the myth of Apollo and Daphne in his Metamorphosis, and describes the moment of her transformation:

Her arms were branches and her speedy feet
Rooted and held, and her head became a tree top,
Everything gone except her grace, her shining

Ovid also wrote the sexually frank Amores,in which  the first line of one of the poems begins:

Your husband? Going to the same dinner as us?
I hope it chokes him.

I explained to our class that Ovid was a cosmopolitan, sexually-frank writer — hip, funny, daring, a bit sacrilegious, ironic, deeply connected to Rome, an incredible poet.  “In today’s world, he’d be a blogger, maybe for Salon, or like . . . ” I fumbled for a comparison.  “Like Jay Ponteri,” one of our group offered.

Exactly.

 What do you think? Check out Jay Ponteri’s new book Wedlocked to decide.

Note bene: Jay Ponteri is an Assistant Professor in the English Department of Marylhurst University.