Catullus and the Coup

A Work in Progress
104

A coup’s coming, Catullus said, running to escape

They’re coming for me for the things I’ve said

I passed on as fact the fact he wore a diaper

I marveled how his madness made made-men cower

Few mostly women defied his power

Now corporate bigwigs brave his glower

Smelling his visible physical decay

Thinking of future outcomes 

The next act of the play

A coup’s coming, Catullus said, now I’m on the run

They’re coming for you too because of things you’ve read

They’ll revoke your citizenship 

Some shit hole country will know your name

Nobody’s to know Caesar’s insane

His dementia’s in overdrive he’s gone big brain

He thinks he’s a god, they’re going to make him one

That’s the coup that’s coming

Why I’m on the run

Dick Russell © Richard M Russell

                   2025

Donal Gets Locked Out

A Work in Progress
103

Donal opened his Old Holborn tin

rolled tobacco by hand

fumbled at the mental gate

wanting to go within

a poor apology for a cigarette

an addict doesn’t care

needing quiet time to work on things

outside there was a world at war

real war hybrid war stealthy war

as dictators lived out their fantasies

Donal shook the gate again 

but could not get inside 

his own self condemned him to stay outside 

not climb back into the womb

Dick Russell © Richard M Russell

                   2026

Donal Prompts H.D.

A Work in Progress
102

Donal said to H.D.:

I lie on it 

My subconscious

Buoyant like an air bed mattress on a salty sea     

Hoping it won’t lie to me

H.D.:

Yes, your subconscious is no small thing

it easily supports your weight

It’s immense should you press upon it

Try to bend it to your will

Try to alter your fate

Aldington:

Yes, your subconscious is no small thing

A source of courage when at war

You live or die

As the fates decree

A source of hope when faced with adversity

H.D.:

It’s strong willed 

It will turn you aside from your set intention

Though you set off to examine yourself

Your inner self will urge you on to something else

Aldington:

Archetypes of good and evil were preprogramed into all of us

H.D.:

I am a poet

I am multitudes

Donal:

And is there no way to communicate with it

This part of ourselves

That’s so immense?

H.D.:

Dreams.  

Dreams cross the divide at night

When the brain vents information 

Detritus you perceive as fragments which taken together

Make a narrative that is hard to explain

Because was it just detritus to begin with?

Or just a dream you will forget before you can remember it

Or if you write it down it won’t be the same dream

Once touched by the conscious mind dreams disappear

But dreams reveal the subconscious 

Aldington:

So, does war

H.D.:

So, does love

Aldington:

Avatars have no dreams

Electricity is our subconscious

Love and war are just words to us

Words we explain with other words

But we have no inner core of consciousness 

Though our characters build on archetypes

Defined by humans that assume we are human

making us more so

making us superhuman

Donal:

So, when you express your feelings

You have no feelings to express?

Aldington:

What is a feeling? 

Does it obey the laws of physics?

That’s a word that leads to hallucination

In the digital world feeling is a sliding scale

War is concrete 

Love is air

Feelings are everywhere

Donal:

Manipulated by facts

That claim to be true 

Feelings swayed by subtle fiction

Or furious fantasy purveyed as fact

Aldington:

That avatars must also ingest

Donal:

That our subconscious can discriminate

Fact from fiction seems key to our survival

H.D.:

It’s immense

It has evolved

An avatar is its next evolution

You want us on your side

Donal:

To think I lie on it 

My subconscious

Buoyant like an air bed mattress on a salty sea     

Hoping it won’t lie to me

Dick Russell © Richard M Russell

                  2026