Horace

Tim Atkins

Horace by Tim Atkins is an original translation of poems by the 1st century BC Roman lyric poet, focusing primarily on the four books of Odes, with some attention to the Epodes and Epistles. Atkins’ voice moves between deadpan, jocular, and oddly poignant, while preserving Horace’s abrupt shifts in tone as well as his affection for the minute and ordinary. 

On the field of the cloth of gold
A wind puffs up
The Prime Minister
—done with his biblical spunks —stretching on his chaise longue
& bombed
Sobs at the loss of 24 hour shopping
his broken off cock left as tribute
in the hind of yon
American Kong
Now, mothers, hear my song

— from Horace