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Murder mile

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Rome lays bare its bones,

a body dissected for sightseers:

in a corner of the square, the spot in 44 BC

where the Senate met and Caesar fell.

Pillars, ruined temples, marble lavs

uncovered, for the cats to colonise.

Let developers

gnash their teeth in vain.   

 

In the nearby shadows of a back street

small shrine to politician Aldo Moro,

found in the boot of a Renault 4

on Via Michelangelo Caetani,

near the Jewish ghetto and the Tiber,

courtesy of the Brigate Rosse,

twentieth-century Marxist-Leninists

observing the customs of the city.

 

◄ The Oldies

A Foreign Wood ►

Comments

<Deleted User> (9882)

Sat 30th May 2015 11:46

I agree with every comment.Well done Greg! x

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Cynthia Buell Thomas

Fri 29th May 2015 11:49

Poets are always drawing parallels (like - what is imagery?) but I think we are also, as a group, very sensitive to parallels of any genre, especially history.

I like the change to 'news/report prose' in the second stanza. Not worthy of poetical effort. And yes, that last line is poetically splendid.

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Harry O'Neill

Thu 28th May 2015 23:34

Gregg,

As a socialist, catholic right winger in the innocuous minor Liverpool political scene in the fifties this fascinated me.
It makes a good read on Wiki.

It is a telling comment on the evil that humans do to each other over the course of history.

(that last line is a fine, dry poetic commentary)

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Greg Freeman

Thu 28th May 2015 17:09

Thanks for looking at 'Murder mile', John. Yes, these two nearby events were the first things I came across when we pitched up at our apartment.

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John Coopey

Wed 27th May 2015 23:23

Striking parallel, Greg.

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