catullus (2004)

catullus is a text sound composition inspired by the “Catullus Shower Curtain (Tapestry?) ” of El Paso artist Horace Mayfield. It explores the homosexual love poems of the controversial Roman poet, Gaius Valerius Catullus, who was active during the reign of Julius Caesar. Texas sculptor James Magee recited the lyric poems of Catullus, both in Latin and in English translations by Paul Schmidt, which formed the basis of this composition.

ARTISTIC ADVISORY: EXPLICIT LYRICS

(48)
Mellitos oculos tuos, Iuventi,
si quis me sinat usque basiare,
usque ad milia basiem trecenta
nec numquam videar satur futurus
non si densior aridis aristis
sit nostrae seges osculationis.

(48)
Joey, honey, let me kiss your sweet eyes…

(15)
My boyfriend is staying with you, Fred,
for the weekend. All I am asking is this,
it's a friendly favor: keep your hands to yourself.
He can take care of himself in the streets,
he's smart, that's not the problem.
What worries me more is your dick,
that dangerous dangle you use
on good boys and bad boys, no difference.
You can fuck what you find in the streets, Fred,
but my Joey's an innocent, leave him alone,
will you? Is that too much to ask?
I'm warning you now, you bastard!
if you fuck my boy anyway, you're gonna get it:
I'll string you up naked, in public,
and we'll all watch you squirm
with a stickleback stuck up your butt.

(48)
Joey, honey, let me kiss your sweet eyes.
Don't tell me to stop till I get to
three hundred thousand kisses.
Oh Joey, I can't get enough!
just keep on kissing me, baby,
and watch our love grow like a harvest,
hard and thick between us.

(21)
Fred…

(21)
Aureli, pater esuritionum,
non harum modo, sed quot aut fuerunt
aut sunt aut aliis erunt in annis,
pedicare cupis meos amores.
Nec clam: nam simul es, iocaris una,
haerens ad latus omnia experiris.
Frustra: nam insidias mihi instruentemtangam
te prior irrumatione.
Atque id si faceres satur, tacerem:
nunc ipsum id doleo, quod esurire
me me puer et sitire discet.
Quare desine, dum licet pudico,
ne finem facias, sed irrumatus.

(21)
Fred, you got nothing, you never had nothing,
and nothing is what you'll wind up with
forever and forever.
And you want to fuck my boyfriend!
Right out in the open, too-last night,
all that hanky-pank under the table!
Forget it. You try cutting in on me, Freddy boy,
I'll pound your fat face fast
and furious. Fuck off, faggot.
OK, so maybe someday you'll do it, and then what?
With you, my boyfriend winds up on welfare.
So quit it, Fred, while you're ahead,
or you'll wind up giving me head.
And I don't come easy

(15)
Commendo tibi me ac meos amores,
Aureli. Veniam peto pudentem,
ut, si quicquam animo tuo cupisti,
quod castum expeteres et integellum,
conserves puerum mihi pudice,
non dico a populo - nihil veremur
istos, qui in platea modo huc modo illuc
in re praetereunt sua occupati -
verum a te metuo tuoque pene
infesto pueris bonis malisque.
Quem tu qua lubet, ut lubet moveto
quantum vis, ubi erit foris paratum:
hunc unum excipio, ut puto, pudenter.
Quod si te mala mens furorque vecors.
In tantam impulerit, sceleste, culpam,
ut nostrum insidiis caput lacessas.
A tum te miserum malique fati!
Quem attractis pedibus patente porta
percurrent raphanique mugilesque.

(15)
My boyfriend is staying with you, Fred,
for the weekend. All I am asking is this,
it's a friendly favor: keep your hands to yourself.
He can take care of himself in the streets,
he's smart, that's not the problem.
What worries me more is your dick,
that dangerous dangle you use
on good boys and bad boys, no difference.
You can fuck what you find in the streets, Fred,
but my Joey's an innocent, leave him alone,
will you? Is that too much to ask?
I'm warning you now, you bastard!
if you fuck my boy anyway, you're gonna get it:
I'll string you up naked, in public,
and we'll all watch you squirm
with a stickleback stuck up your butt.

- English translations from Night Life by Paul Schmidt, Painted Leaf Press: New York City.