AMAZONS IN ROME





A message to Julius Caesar.

Nobody has a clock that works.
And yet, you want to reset the time.
But you can’t set a clock that doesn’t work.

What’s the matter with you?
Haven’t you been watching the birds?
















TAKE YOUR

SMOKE IN THE DISTANCE

HERE THEY COME

LINES OF HORSES AND POLES

A MAN EATS A POMEGRANATE

DEAD SILENCE

ANOTHER BITE

HORNS AND DRUMS

ATTACK

THE BATTLE’S OVER






























THE SKY IS PURPLE, THE MEN ARE YELLOW

The grand opportunity to take time away forever.

Torture me! Torture me!

Julius Caesar,
MEN ARE EVERYWHERE ---
NOTHING BUT MEN







































Delve deep into the entrails of the dead.
This soldier’s intestines, this one’s heart,
and the clocks,
hold them, look long into those fatal wounds,

and Janice is not here, I am not Janice.
This is your fault, too.
I could see Janice again and again in the same light.

THEY ARE BURNING THE BRIDGE
IT MAKES A SOUND LIKE CRACKERS

IT SEEMS SHAMEFUL.
AND YET THAT MAN WAS YOUR FRIEND.

I’M SURE YOU PROVE
that we must watch the birds.

The birds will sing us the proper time.


























I KNOW YOUR SWORD IS SWIFT.

YOU ALWAYS HAVE AN ANSWER.
IT’S ENTERTAINING SOMETIMES. NOT ALWAYS.

I WON’T ARGUE ANYMORE.

THE CROWS ARE CIRCLING AROUND IN THE SKY.
NO ONE HAS SEEN THE PIGEONS.
NO FORTUNE TELLER CAN AGREE.

I MUST PUNISH MY HAND BECAUSE IT WAS UNABLE TO STRIKE.

ABSURD

I WANT NOTHING THAT WAS GIVEN ME. NOTHING.

Don’t lean over and EAT me!! Are you nervous?

No one is home. The clock strikes one. Janice is
in her room. Not this one.
Or maybe another one.

In the corner, perhaps a photo.
That you have seen.
Maybe in the midst of the mirror, a smudge. A fingerprint.
A mist where you were standing too close.

We demand!!!!

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.


















SHE TAKES OFF HER CLOAK. HER SANDALS.
AND IF THIS TUNIC HAD COME FROM YOU,
I’D SHED IT AND WALK AROUND NAKED.

Like Janice in front of the mirror.
Two of her. Looking in.

She must be afraid of the image, of every inch.
She could sigh, collapsing.
These shoulders, these freckles, these breasts.
My eyes, my lips, my stomach, my hair,

assist me. Server to construct a tender image.
































COUNCIL OF ROME,
COUNCIL OF DEFEAT,
YOU’RE WOUNDED.

I WAS CHAINED AND DISHONORED.
THAT’S WHY I SAY FAREWELL. FORGET ME.
YOU WILL GO NOW.

SHE IS PARADED THROUGH THE STREETS IN A BOX.

YOU’D THINK IT WAS A THEATER IN GREECE.
THE CHORUS WILL NOW BEGIN.


Would there have been a song here, if I sang it
I could not change your mind.

OH WHO SHALL FROM THIS DUNGEON RAISE
A SOUL ENSLAVED IN SO MANY WAYS?
The fluttering songs, with the voices of morning birds.
BOLTS OF BONES, FEET, MANACLED HANDS,
Eating breakfast, observing texture.

BLIND MY EYES AND DRUM UNTIL DEAF
a moment on a train.
When morning birds fly around an electrical tower,
perch on the transformer,
HUNG UP AS TWERE IN CHAINS,
moving to kiss Janice.
She brings her finger to her lips.
NERVES AND ARTERIES AND VEINS.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.














A hanging possibility.
TORTURED INTO PARTS
a sequence on a train
A VAIN HEAD AND A DOUBLE HEART

Now, Julius Caesar, Honorable Magistrate,
imagine yourself as Janice.
And that the sun makes your skin brightly colored.
But you don’t like the light.

In silence.

I kiss, slowly and deliberately, great Caesar,
so that my lips barely brush your skin,
tapping softly every freckle,
every tiny hair on your body.

As Janice, feel the pressure of this kiss.

Opposite you,
a smudge on the glass,

WAIT (!)





















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SHE FALLS OFF A HORSE.
HE FALLS OFF A WOMAN.

WHO ARE YOU?
A WOMAN.
I DON’T DOUBT THAT, BUT WHAT ELSE?
A WOMAN WHO DOESN’T WANT ROME TO BE OCCUPIED BY BARBARIANS!

AND I THOUGHT I’D SEEN EVERYTHING!
IS THIS THE LATEST STYLE? WOMEN SOLDIERS?

YOU’RE MY PRISONERS, GIRLS.
FOLLOW ME, WE WON’T HARM YOU.

THE SHE WOLF, THE LIONESS, THE VIXEN.

I’M A VERY STRANGE BIRD. VERY MYSTERIOUS.

YOU’RE FOOLING?? WOMEN??

LET’S HAVE SOME ROOM. OPEN UP. LET US PASS THERE.

THEY’LL SLEEP IN THE BARN.
TIRED AND WHIPPED IN THE NUDE.
DO YOUR DUTY.

TAKE IT OFF YOURSELF!!

TRAITORS!!
















LET’S SEE HER NUDE.

THERE’S TIME FOR LOVE WHEN THE DRUMS OF WAR ARE STILL.

YOU LOVE ANOTHER MAN.

WOULD YOU LIKE A DEMONSTRATION?

NO. WE WOULD HAVE EACH OTHER FOREVER.

WHY DO YOU REMIND ME OF MY UNHAPPINESS?
SHE IS WEEPING AT THE GATE AS HE LEAVES.
I’M AFRAID SHE SAYS. JUST AFRAID.

WHEN THEY’VE DRUNK THEIR FILL.
COME AND GET YOUR PAY.
Break some clocks please.
ANGER WITH THE WINE OUGHT TO BRING EVERYTHING TO A BOIL.
They don’t work anyway.





























Julius Caesar, I can’t make a sentimental image,
I can’t explain, or conjure, or even kiss Janice, and I can’t detain
her in places where she never is. It’s your fault.

That’s what this is about.

Jan/ Janice in Rome.
But some one is walking where Janice never is.
And I can only freeze that sensation when I am in that moment.
Playing pool. Checked in time.
How know you Janice?

Oh, don’t make such a FACE.
Janice is a portal.
TO ESCAPE FROM FLAMES, COW THRU WATER.
FROM NIGHT INTO DAY.

































Never, ever, ever wake up and look at your clock.
Asleep on the couch watching Amazons in Rome.
Fighting.
The phone rings.
What I didn’t expect. A displacement.

Circling birds not making any noise.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.