Unchanged (ink illustration on paper 10x10) by Aaron Newcome-Beill

Roman Thrones + Poetry and Art by Aaron Newcome-Beill

Posted on by da-AL

I started a longer post, but I’m too discombobulated to finish writing it — I’m getting ready for tomorrow’s routine colonoscopy. Have you had one done? Hopefully your experience went well…

Thank you, Wikipedia: Ancient Roman latrines/latrinae, Ostia Antica.
Thank you, Wikipedia: Ancient Roman latrines/latrinae, Ostia Antica.

Curious how average big city people went to the bathroom in the way back when days? Here’s what HistoryHit reports:

“The public baths were also breeding grounds for disease. Roman doctors would often recommend that ill people should go for a cleansing bath. As part of the baths’ etiquette, the sick usually bathed in the afternoons to avoid healthy bathers. However, like public toilets and the streets, there was no daily cleaning routine for keeping the baths themselves clean, so illness was often passed to healthy bathers who visited the next morning.

Shared sea sponges on sticks, instead of toilet paper, were shared.
Shared sea sponges on sticks, instead of toilet paper, were shared.

“Romans used a sea sponge on a stick, called a tersorium, to wipe after using the latrine. The sponges were often washed in water containing salt and vinegar, kept in a shallow gutter below the toilets. Yet not everyone carried around their own sponge and public latrines at baths or even the Colosseum would have seen shared sponges, inevitably passing on diseases such as dysentery.”

Today’s guest blog post is thanks to Aaron Newcome-Beill. From Baltimore, Maryland, he describes himself as, “an artist with sincere misgivings and concerns about industry and capitalism writ large, particularly in the face of more universal ethical fallacies that have seeped into the infrastructure of the great social machine and have become the norm. I recently quit my role in healthcare because I refuse to passively participate in the exploitation of others when my passion and productivity can actively be engaged in other endeavors, preferably for the greater good. I received my MS in Psychology at Arizona State University and returned for an MA in Sociology but dropped out when I stopped caring. I am currently devoting all of my time to creative pursuits while also writing about art, activism, and other topics on my blog Please Stand By.

Photo of Artist/blogger Aaron Newcome-Beill shading his eyes from the sun.
Artist/blogger Aaron Newcome-Beill.
Unchanged (ink illustration on paper 10x10) by Aaron Newcome-Beill.
Unchanged (ink illustration on paper 10×10) by Aaron Newcome-Beill.

Unchanged by Aaron Newcome-Beill

In the asphalt 2 decades later,

unchanged time

warps in the sun

like dogs climbing

sticky architecture, out of breath.

This is how we silence the world.

I’ve closed minds to new ideas

as ideas get dumped

like diminished chords and empty cases

in the places they preach about gunships

that let all possibilities end.

Most days my heart’s not in it.

It takes all magic not to think of you –

To feel remorse refilling

in the time of the carbine –

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Published by da-AL

Happiness Between Tails speaks to and from the heart. It connects lovers — of pets, authors, books — and of my still-unreleased novels, “Flamenco + the Sitting Cat” and “Tango + the Sitting Cat.” The stories are my love letters to all who fear they're too odd, too damaged, too old, too whatever to find happiness. ContactdaAL@gmail.com • BuyMeACoffee.com/SupportHBT

38 thoughts on “Roman Thrones + Poetry and Art by Aaron Newcome-Beill”

  1. Aaron’s artwork is stunning! I found both the art and the poem disturbing. I think they would motivate the reader to address whatever evils they encounter or are aware of! 💙

    da-AL, I am overdue for my third colonoscopy. The anesthesia administered for the first colonoscopy left me feeling euphoric! I hope you had a positive experience. 🌹

    Liked by 2 people

  2. Thank you da-AL for sharing this with everyone! My writing is often motivated by trying to find some connection or meaning between different words or images.

    A few themes I find most appealing are related to time and magic because they seem like universal phenomena like death and taxes, but fall somewhere between the abstract and invisible spectrum (these things aren’t constantly on our minds or in the same contexts as other universal variables like life and death—but are just as essential).

    The rise of artificial intelligence in art and media has led me to advocate more for perspectives that encourage originality and meaning than conscious aspects of aesthetic quality and monetary value.

    It’s important to raise awareness about this because eventually all of our favorite artists will be dead and no new artists will appear.

    This would not permanently damage our collective consciousness (I’m confident humans could reconnect to their creative side), but technology and violence would become more sophisticated as culture itself becomes primitive.

    Liked by 2 people

  3. I have had two colonoscopies , or to be precise top and tail as they call it at the hospital, I was most worried about having anything put down my throat. The first time, I arrived on the ward and the nurse that came along was my next door neighbour. I knew she was a nurse, but what branch of medical stuff she was involved with. Luckily they have a conveyor belt of patients with several or more theatres on the go, so she reassured me they weren’t assigned to people they know. Hope it all went well.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Top and tail? Never heard of. What a great story! I’m so glad it turned out well for you. I’ll go to hospital in a few hours. My husband had his a couple of days ago and all went well so I’m not worried. Thanks for the good wishes

      Liked by 1 person

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