Steve Castro
Winter 2025 | Poetry
A man condemned[1]
after Francisco Goya (1746-1828)
Don Claudio was cursed. He’ll die if he lets his lamp go out.
He fills the oil lamp held by an accursed demon servant
as three donkeys stand on their hind legs right behind him
waiting for the flame to extinguish, so they can trample him to death.
Don Claudio fears Satan more than he trusts the good Lord,
so, with his devil hand over his mouth, he timorously,
with his right hand, fills the oil lamp to appease fallen angels
and temporarily prolong his miserable existence.
[1] El Hechizado por Fuerza: Oil on canvas. 16 3/4" x 12"
The Box We Put the World in to Keep a Corner from Shattering, a chapbook co-written with Christopher Citro & Dustin Pearson was published in 2025 by Aureole Press (University of Toledo). Steve Castro is a Costa Rican surrealist whose poetry has appeared in 32 Poems; Salamander; The Florida Review; DIAGRAM; Image; Notre Dame Review; The Spectacle; etc. and is forthcoming in Tampa Review; Water~Stone Review; Laurel Review; Cream City Review; The Boiler; The National Poetry Review; Gallus: Poetry Scotland's Sassy Sibling.