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the eventuality of caesar



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Mon Mar 23, 2020 11:37 am
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StellaThomas says...



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2018 - An Endangered Species of Flightless Bird
2017- bedside manner
2015 - We are still afraid of the dark.
"Stella. You were in my dream the other night. And everyone called you Princess." -Lauren2010
  





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Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:32 pm
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StellaThomas says...



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i. cicero

silver-tongue.
slippery as the messenger
whose closed wings hide the tendons
that cause so much misery

the cleverest words.
they would betray your arrogance
were they not your sword, your spear,
– cleavers –
for they slaughter

that sleek voice.
it will be the death of you,
of them. your first and last friend,
unmade and raw inside your throat.

in a thousand years
will they still know your name?
"Stella. You were in my dream the other night. And everyone called you Princess." -Lauren2010
  





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Wed Apr 01, 2020 6:58 pm
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PrincessInk says...



Are you going to write poems for the other famous Romans too? Because that is so cool :o
always daydreaming, always clumsy
  





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Thu Apr 02, 2020 7:54 pm
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StellaThomas says...



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ii. carthage

forever remembered as

fragments
in songs where your greatest rival
is ever the hero

the blinking ash of a funeral pyre

elephant footprints in virgin snow

salted earth – six miles inland

in the end
they were their own downfall as well
(delenda est)


Spoiler! :
@PrincessInk - I don't really know yet! I have no idea why I chose this as a loose theme - we'll see how they go :) hopefully I can write poems with some Roman associations that are still relevant!! Or at least have fun with it.
"Stella. You were in my dream the other night. And everyone called you Princess." -Lauren2010
  





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Fri Apr 03, 2020 5:31 am
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alliyah says...



The word choice and formatting you've got going on so far seems so elegant - the fragmented/stilted structure for Carthage really fit well with the topic! I like the whole theme and will be curious where you take it.

Also the "delenda est" ending to the Carthage one was excellent; the whole poem felt like it was building more and more on it's ominousness.
you should know i am a time traveler &
there is no season as achingly temporary as now
but i have promised to return
  





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Fri Apr 03, 2020 9:07 pm
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StellaThomas says...



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iii. aeneas

after ten years of war

escaped the burning husk of your city
young, male, bearded,
brimming with charisma

you carried your father on your back and
you led your young son by the hand and
you brought your gods with you

sailed south of
warlike kingdoms that
throw infants to the grave
you made landfall in tunisia. in sicily.

you travelled on the whims of gods.
until you came to the place of wolves.

the tale of your discovery
of a new home is
with hush, reverence, marvel
but then – it was a fine ship, not made of rubber.


Spoiler! :
@alliyah - thank you so much <3
"Stella. You were in my dream the other night. And everyone called you Princess." -Lauren2010
  





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Sat Apr 04, 2020 2:53 pm
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Apricity says...



I just want to say that I’m really enjoying your poetry so far, there’s really something elegant and beautiful with them. I look forward to reading more c:
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'And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.' ― Friedrich Nietzsche

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Mon Apr 06, 2020 2:22 pm
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StellaThomas says...



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iv. caesar

in
an
instant

one thing
becomes
another


the fulcrum is
you
fording a hidden river
grasping the laurel wreath


your hunger will fuel it all
Tsar. Kaiser.

centuries of wasted breath
to fulfil
your
destiny


the defining moment
"Stella. You were in my dream the other night. And everyone called you Princess." -Lauren2010
  





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Mon Apr 06, 2020 2:42 pm
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v. vestal

the story they tell will be of loss. whispered tragedies – a daughter sold (as if others were not sold to worse)
a body untouched (unharmed), a life lived in sisterhood instead of womanhood.
the bricked-in girls who broke their vows.

tell, instead
how far above them all we rise.
the holy fire burns in every far reach of our souls. we have strength that men might only imagine.
they would name us hearth witches did they not need our cleansing flame,
did they not need us, lawmakers and treaty keepers, disguised as acolytes

bowed heads hide cunning eyes

there is no tragedy for a woman with a body sacrosanct, unviolated
her character beyond the reproach of any but her goddess.

that story will not be told. a woman with power will still be a dangerous thought.
"Stella. You were in my dream the other night. And everyone called you Princess." -Lauren2010
  





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vi. plebeian

yet i think it is us who have the sweeter life
in narrow, bricked places, piled on top of one another
sailors come from ostia with their musk and siren stories
freedmen with lyres and better languages to teach

the sweetest life is here with you
your worn-out sandals untied on the threshold
our laundry hung and beaten outside
amid laughing children from next door

here we will grow our little life around a dining table
laid with olives are just as sharp as theirs, but the fish is fresher
the wine is so heady it gifts you lofty thoughts but
a kiss in the feathersoft candlelight reminds you
that this is enough
"Stella. You were in my dream the other night. And everyone called you Princess." -Lauren2010
  





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Wed Apr 08, 2020 3:30 pm
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StellaThomas says...



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vii. anno domini

to have faith in such a little god
half the known world away

a man come to earth
no shower of golden rain
or sacred white bull

no fluttering wings on helmets
or mountain shrouded forges

just letters from a prisoner,
your name hissed at the fire you didn’t light

to have faith that the cruellest death
is simply a beginning
"Stella. You were in my dream the other night. And everyone called you Princess." -Lauren2010
  





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Fri Apr 10, 2020 4:03 pm
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StellaThomas says...



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viii. servus

i hope you closed your eyes when you did it
when you handed me over
for that half-handful of denarii
i hope you mind never comes to this strange place
its shadow-damp winters
bone ash summers
"Stella. You were in my dream the other night. And everyone called you Princess." -Lauren2010
  





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Fri Apr 10, 2020 4:34 pm
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StellaThomas says...



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ix. vulcan

that pretty vase
your mother gave us
the amber beads drip slowly
like that summer that never ended
in the trunk upstairs is my flame-orange veil
that we so carefully folded up and stored for our daughter

all it takes
to kill everything
is one
angry
god

"Stella. You were in my dream the other night. And everyone called you Princess." -Lauren2010
  





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Sun Apr 12, 2020 5:45 pm
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StellaThomas says...



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x. et tu

they’ll never tell my story except as part of yours. it will never go beyond your eyes on mine – no longer narrowed by ambition but now as wide as a child’s,
you saw the long sliver in my hand that you named betrayal. that will be my fate – your fate, the fate that we chose for you, not trusting the one you chose for yourself. that moment is my legacy – it earned me a seat at the darkest table, that last circle
with the one they call iscariot.

they’ll never tell the story before that, how we fought side by side, those eyes of yours glinting in bloodlust and delight, arms tight around one another’s necks, wine that was too warm sitting in fly-ridden sunlight, hunks of stale bread you swore were sent by the gods.
we came home to these urine soaked streets, the place we wished was nobler,
confessed dreams on smoke-hazed nights like we were boys again, i loved your dreams – and then i didn’t.

the time came, i loved the idea of rome more – so there didn’t seem a choice, it was nobler. the crimson on your toga, i still felt it flooding my hands, your life spilled onto me, and i heard your last words every night when sleep evaded me – yes, it was me, by your side, as always, forever our histories entwined but now the end was vinegar, a sin unrepentable – and i realised rome was you.

"Stella. You were in my dream the other night. And everyone called you Princess." -Lauren2010
  





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Sun Apr 12, 2020 6:43 pm
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PrincessInk says...



oh wow this most recent one is so powerful. I really loved the way you put Brutus's sentiments into poetry (I assume you're talking about Brutus ;) )
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i am neither a loose leaf nor do i like loose leafs. really, i am a piece of wide-ruled looseleaf paper
— looseleaf