Hic in Kentukia non est aetas Ciceronis:
Induimus brachas (ut dicuntur) Genuenses,
Dein cafeam mane ex pocillis bibimus omnes,
Fumosugentes tobacum, donum indiginarum.
Per montes atque oppida tunc vehor autobirota,
Postremo, defessa, Novum adveniens Eboracum.
| This was my postcard poem from
my participation in the Conventiculum Latinum
at the University of Kentucky, Lexington. The goal here was to throw some
dactyls out to my Latin-reading friends, reflective of my time and learning
with Terentius Tunberg, the director of the seminar. Each line uses a bit
of neo-Latin, which is the focus of the Conventiculum. Additionally, I think
the caesurae here are pretty nice, which was the most recent criticism of
my Latin poetry given me by ABF. Looking at it now, the elisions are a bit
ugly. This poem was mostly written at the Downtown Brewery in Knoxville, TN. Fortunately, my writer's block was bad enough that I abandoned the poem for a bit and struck up a conversation with a certain gentleman... but that story is for another poem. Here's a lousy English rendering. Maybe one day I'll try to get a nice translation up: Here in Kentucky, it's not the age of Cicero: |