Blackbird Archive
← v13n1, Spring 2014
Poetry · Volume 13, Number 1

Catullus: Carmina, XL

Len Krisak

Poor Ravidus, what fever in that brain

Has thrown you on my lines’ iambic blade?

What god to whom your plea was poorly made

Is goading you to fight me? That’s insane.

Or do you want the mob to laugh at you?

Is “fame” your goal, no matter how you’re known?

Fine. Now that you pursue my love, my own,

These lines will bring you pain you’ll always rue.

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Len Krisak

Len Krisak is the author of several collections of poetry, most recently Afterimage (Measure Press, 2014). He is the translator of three classic books of poetry, and another book of translations, Ovid: The Amores and The Ars Amatoria (University of Pennsylvania Press), is forthcoming. His poetry has been published or is forthcoming in AGNI , the Antioch Review , the Sewanee Review , The Hudson Review , PN Review , and The London Magazine . Krisak is the recipient of The Pinch Literary Award in Poetry in 2007, a 2000 Richard Wilbur Award and a 2000 Robert Frost Foundation Poetry Award, among others. Photo by Robert Ruscansky