Tag Archives: hades

Day 21 — Caesars: generic + specific

I really enjoyed writing yesterday’s poem based on Sunday’s NaPoWriMo prompt so have decided to try another florilegium. It’s helpful because there are lots of extraordinary mushrooms I’d like to write about but I don’t have the energy to do proper Case Studies on them all (& there’s probably not enough meat, in all their stories as well). Whereas a florilegium has the bonus of being concise — keeping me on task, cos I am something of an initial overwriter.

Plus a couple of the books I’m researching from have beautiful hand drawn illustrations of exactly the type that Sylvia Legris used for her original poems of this type.

The Factoid touches on a popular legend in Roman history — although how accurate it is, historians cannot agree as the sources are scant & somewhat contradictory.

[Disclaimer: Unlike yesterday there is no disclaimer because I have finally caught up. Yay!!!]

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fungilegium: Caesar’s Mushroom
Amanita caesarea

Red. Golden. Orange. Like sunsets. Tasty.
Supposedly reserved for Caesar’s table 
& breadbasket only. Yet the literature immediately
contradicts itself. As it’s found alongside 
old Roman roads. Courtesy the legions. Ave!

Most of its siblings. Look similar but
have poisoned hearts. So take care. 
Eat it. If you dare. But be aware.
It truly is a King’s Egg. Not a Death Cap
or Fly Agaric. Which could kill you quick.

We who are about to die et cetera & so on …

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Day 21 Factoid — Even Roman Emperors Make Bad Decisions

fungi, Claudius

i. While Alive
marry badly/unwisely : four times : the last to a highly ambitious woman : argue lots with her : just so she’s got adequate motivation : (as if making her son Emperor isn’t enough) : to do you in : banquet heartily : including mushrooms : (among your favourites) : watch a theatrical performance : consume whole bowl : of poisoned mushrooms : (possibly Amanita muscaria) : & when that doesn’t completely succeed : perhaps swallow : some poisoned gruel too : linger : a long time : painfully : before dying 

ii. After Death
senators snigger : as your stepson Nero : delivers the expected eulogy : perhaps not quite receiving the respect required : despite this : still achieve deification : although Seneca : somewhat mocked your passage to eternity : in a treatise loosely translated as : ‘The Pumpkinification of the Divine Claudius’ : in it you are depicted as : a bumbling fool : rejected by the gods : your literary counterpart : thinks himself worthy of Olympus : but the gods ridicule him : & he is unceremoniously : packed off to Hades — if only you’d : preferred figs instead

Day 7 – The Tartatus List + a lollipop lesson

Today’s prompt was to write a poem that plays with the idea of a list. The example poem was a list that isn’t – it never gets beyond the first entry. I somehow mangled this with a challenge from a couple of days earlier write a poem in which laughter comes at what might otherwise seem an inappropriate moment – or one that the poem invites the reader to think of as inappropriate.

Just for today (given I don’t think it fits tonally with the other poems I’ve written) I’m including the whole thing.

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The Tartatus List


trying to prepare 
for my assault on Hades
torches to scare away 
   the damned darkness ;
my life-restoring lute ; 
an obol for the ferryman ;
three bones for the guard dog
   in case Herakles’ trick
   doesn’t work a second time


— but it’s impossible 
                                  to focus
given all i hear 
                       is my mother’s 
         voice
carping on at me to 
                              pack 
          my cape cos
she’s certain            it will be
COLD!  down.  there…
   &  she knows   what
i’m like … when the
weather
       turns 
                                   chilly

Day 7 – TIL something strange about a lollipop

sweet stuck on a stick

Chupa Chups are Spanish
(the name means something 
close to Sucky Sucks) 
& were designed so they didn’t 
melt in Iberian summer heat. 
They originally cost 
a single peseta each. 

But none of these
are the poetic factoid
that blew me away.
Their logo of brand 
name inside brightly 
coloured daisy
was designed by
— Salvador freaking Dalí 


Aside: he also once sent Harpo 
Marx a supremely surreal Xmas gift 
— a harp with barbed-wire strings

Day 13 – my favourite myth about love

During NaPoWriMo there are a plethora of sites & groups publishing writing prompts to help poets overcome the terrifying prospect of the blank screen or page day after day for 30 straight days. I rarely have a problem finding a topic but I usually check out what the prompts are in the groups I’m part of, just to see if there’s anything that interests me. 

An Australian-run group called The Dirty Thirty’s chosen topic today was myth. The number 13 is lucky and scary and shrouded in myth. So today, let’s talk myths. In your poem, find creative ways to include the actual story your myth was based on. 

This is manna from heaven for me & I immediately thought of one of my go to topics: the myth of Orpheus & Eurydice. I love this topic so much that I have several books devoted to the subject & I’ve written at least a dozen poems around the theme; the best of which I one day hope to publish as a chapbook or suite of poems (as part of a bigger volume) called songs of under earth. 

The Death of Orpheus

after many years : wandering : ever-mourning : his lost Eurydice : Orpheus worshipped : only the Apollo-sun

one morning : at the Dionysian oracle : on Mount Pangaion : while greeting dawn’s rosy fingers : with his peerless lyre-playing : as part of his : daily sun god salute : the Maenads : resenting Orpheus’ refusal : to honour : his previous patron : sought to harm him : threw sticks & stones : yet the lilt : of his music : was so sublime : & so strong : the rocks & branches : refused to strike 

enraged : they threw themselves : instead : in a furioso frenzy : ripping : rending : wrenching : his mortal body : to shreds : blood lust madness : engulfing them all

when the women : who tore him apart : tried to cleanse : their gore-covered hands : the river sank : below ground 

as did : Orpheus’ shade : finally : to be reunited