« Met Percent: Week Twenty [by Alec Bernstein] | Main | Workman's Lunch [by Dean Smith] »
Thallus, you lump,
Lift your sorry carcass! I want
no more of your clichés —your
Good things come to those who wait—
I who have waited till the cows come home
and never come—
you of the spontaneous overflow
of what you call—powerful feelings,
words worth nothing.
You who love to brag
You’re a big fish in my small pond . . .
Give me back my underpants
and cigarettes
The ones you say you quit smoking—
I am going back to Paris . . .
As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.
Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.
Your Information
(Name and email address are required. Email address will not be displayed with the comment.)
Radio
I left it
on when I
left the house
for the pleasure
of coming back
ten hours later
to the greatness
of Teddy Wilson
"After You've Gone"
on the piano
in the corner
of the bedroom
as I enter
in the dark
from New and Selected Poems by David Lehman
Ha! I take it this is a "free" translation? That Catullus-- guy never goes outta style.
What's "underpants' in Latin again? - Slips my mind. Not that I think the info will come in useful.
Posted by: Suzanne Lummis | May 23, 2020 at 01:14 PM
Dear Suzanne, Molly takes great liberties in her pseudo-translations. I enjoy them and am grateful to her for posting them with us. DL
Posted by: The Best American Poetry | May 31, 2020 at 10:59 AM
Carolyn Clark asks me to post her comment:
<<<
My concern is that Thallus might not give her bloomers back because the poem is based so loosely on Catullus 25 (not 420 which doesn’t exist) that the readers may not pick up on the freedoms granted herein, and it certainly cannot be called a translation, although it is an inspiration.
I see her Dec 2019 post does a similar trick: rightly listing a poem of Catullus that dne (doesn’t exist). So why call it a translation at all?Inspired, and good stuff, yes! But as a Ph.D. In Classics I am obligated to say please Offer up a caveat to the Lehman readers.
>>>
Posted by: The Best American Poetry | June 01, 2020 at 03:10 PM