(no subject)

I'm looking forward to reading at INCITE at First Out on Thursday .

And he did have politics after all...

This one - Catullus 29 - is a bit odd. It's not his usual cliquish banter and to some extent it seems as if he is writing it in code. There is another poem in which he talks of Mamurra as Julius Caesar's greedy catamite so I think that's what he is implying here in what seems to be a protest against the stripping of conquered provinces for personal benefit.

What I've written is accordingly quite free, and uses imagery that he doesn't. One of the reasons for this is that the repetition of 'Cinaedus Romulus' is simply not going to shock us.

But I think this gets what he meant...

Mamurra

How can we bear this? Only someone like
Mamurra could; he's shameless in his greed.
He's stripped the Gauls, the Britons too, and he'd
Make Romulus his bum boy. Like a pike

That strips a lake of fish, he leaves behind
Desolate emptiness. He seems so fair,
like an Adonis. And you took him there,
great Caesar, knowing your cute boy would find

so much to steal. Like pigeons, he will peck
until the garden's bare. He has devoured,
all his own cash, the loot of Spain. He scoured
the Black Sea coast sore. Now leaves Gaul a wreck,

Britain as well. What has he got on you?
That marriage? Did he bugger that up too?

Catullus 1

This one is his dedication, to his friend Cornelius, who had written a huge history of Italy - which we don't have

And since neilhimself has been one of the most complimentary readers of these, if there's ever an actual book of them, he gets the dedication.

DEDICATION
Who gets first dibs on this cute little book
fresh from the printers all shiny and new?
Neil, you encouraged it. It goes to you.
You thought it good from your very first look.

That's quite impressive - you've written so much
history of Dreamland in so many volumes,
all of the endless in their Gothic costumes
all of the demons and angels and such.

So much you made up and so much is knowledge
picked up at random and stitched like a quilt
Reading your stories is fun without guilt
Sex and adventure - and yet it's a college.

Anyway, here's my Catullus. Its pages
have filth, love and death. It is built for the ages.

I seem to be on a roll tonight

Sometimes he's such a BOY . I don't know why I love him so much.

Catullus 6

There must be something wrong with your new girl
so you've not told me all about her. What's
the problem? Lank hair, squeaky voice or spots?
Is she some crazy tart? You're in a whirl

not seeing straight. I've scrutinised your bed.
Empty, it's full of clues. Her cloying scent
on pillows. And your mattress is all bent,
it's squashed from fucking. All the springs are dead

on their last squeak. And you're shagged out as well,
so tired all the time. Clearly she's got
you round her finger, also up her twot.
And if you weren't ashamed of her, you'd tell.

So if you're quite convinced there's nothing wrong,
tell me so I can put it in a song.