tracking down
the roots of our
sewers,

a chamberpot
got loose, spilled
into the sewer in the
busy heart of downtown
Ostia at the mouth of the
Tiber River, the doors marked
exit, a drainage conduit under the
latrine defiled the religion of archaeology,

he sat
upon the
large hole
of the bench
reading the Christian
manifesto while the running
water at his backside cleansed
from impurity and communal stew,
it is his room of easement, his hell hole,

he lets his
waste loose
in a trough beneath
the latrine seat, the
Dejecti Effusive Act
didn't cover damages
by throwers of waste,

the Romans
boycotted the
latrine and claimed
the first port-a-potty,
huge vases at the edge
of town, his alternative is
the modesty cape sold by
the Roman vendors who work
the streets, flush away, flush away,
oh the games people play.

Copyright Ms. Sage Sweetwater, firebrand lesbian novelist