I, like many people, love The Princess Bride. It's one of my all-time favorite films, in fact. At the end of the movie, Westley says to Inigo, "Have you ever considered piracy? You'd make a wonderful Dread Pirate Roberts." I was always intrigued by that possibility, so about ten years ago I started writing just that--that Inigo becomes the Dread Pirate Roberts. As with all my fan fiction (which is always free), it's a permanent work-in-progress; I've got at this point 15 chapters waiting for you, with another two on the way before I put the project back on the backburner. The story is told from Inigo's first mate's point of view, an intrepid fellow named Duncan Paloni, who is convinced that he's seeing the golden age of the pirate ship Revenge. Enjoy!

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Truly Holy | Poetry

Shawn Michel de Montaigne April 21, 2023

Contemplation: Photography by Shawn Michel de Montaigne

You want me to read your holy scriptures.

But all I need to do is take a walk.

You call me therefore unsaved.

You point to your holy scriptures as proof.

You quote me chapter and verse,

thinking that somehow settles the matter.

But it doesn't.

I need no pages,

no verses,

no quotes,

no priests,

no holy men,

no saviors,

no authorities.

Least of all do I need you.

The birds bubble up from the inlet's waters,

slip back under again.

Gulls argue above me.

A vast ocean at my feet waters the world, serene and more powerful

than your readings and saints and visions of Beyond,

so much so that writing the comparison puffs up the unworthy and damns the worthy.

I'm sorry for that.

You pore over that book because you are blind, deaf, and dumb to the Truly Holy.

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From For It All

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Photography: Contemplation by Shawn Michel de Montaigne

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Truly Holy | Poetry

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