Poem: Founding Foundlings
A poem about Rome.
Despite the image above, this is not a poem about the death of Nero, nor of any particular Roman. One might see Tiberius, but mostly one should see Rome and Rome’s founding, and through it, see the founding and living of all human societies.
Drop a comment if you find both layers of the contemporary pop culture reference I’ve made. Drop a comment regardless, I love hearing from you.
Founding Foundlings There is a world elsewhere. - Coriolanus, in Shakespeare’s play Mater abest ex quo condidimus moenia Romae, Lupa sed adveniens celebrabimus orgia festis. - Ioannes Darnelius Rome is my home, my cannibal mother; I’m nursed on blood my own and another’s. On praetorian plots and poisons I suckle, My meat has been the sinister chuckle. I masticate murders and parricide. I gorge on the gore of Tarpeia’s south side And saturnine pies with children inside. Shout from the roof of Pantheon’s dome: We're going to party when wolf comes home! We’ll feast on a beast of delectable pride And drink up the blood of cannibal mother, Just as soon as I smother another brother.
Funny that you posted this last night, almost exactly coinciding with my family's dinner table conversation about Nero and cannibalism. I also don't get the pop culture references (but then again, I'm one of the youths, so maybe not the target audience for hipster allusions), but this was a fun read!
Downright despicable, fiendish fun. I didn't get any of the pop culture references, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.