“THROUGH ME THE WAY INTO THE SUFFERING CITY,
THROUGH ME THE WAY TO THE ETERNAL PAIN,
THROUGH ME THE WAY THAT RUNS AMONG THE LOST.JUSTICE URGED ON MY HIGH ARTIFICER;
MY MAKER WAS DIVINE AUTHORITY,
THE HIGHEST WISDOM, AND THE PRIMAL LOVE.BEFORE ME NOTHING BUT ETERNAL THINGS
WERE MADE, AND I ENDURE ETERNALLY.ABANDON EVERY HOPE, WHO ENTER HERE.”
–Inscription on the Gates of Hell, Inferno, Dante Alighieri
Just kidding. It’s not the Gates of the Hell, it’s the gates of the United Center– the Michael Jordan statue on a snowy night.
Though I’m sure some tormented Bulls fans, whose devotion began with the relatively divine authority of MJ himself, find that quote perfectly appropriate these days.
“…Here sighs and lamentations and loud cries were echoing across the starless air….strange utterances, horrible pronouncments, accents of anger, words of suffering, and voices shrill and faint, and beating hands…”
Filed under: Loving a Woman With a Broken Nose, Purloined Words | 2 Comments
Tags: Basketball, Chicago, Dante, Hell, Michael Jordan, snow

I never would have guessed this as a basketball statue. I’m not sure if it’s because I read the dante thing before really looking at the picture or if basketball players in freeze frame always look like tormented souls. They also kind of look like people being thrown from a bomb explosion or something else forceful and violent.
I just wanted to note the fact that ” Loving a Woman With a Broken Nose” is my early favorite for Category of the Year.