Art and Craft 2018: 25

Catullus

With a sky full of gods still I felt
dumb human ways. Human
and dumb I told the world,
changed names and made it scan.
Anything wrapped in a bow
becomes a gift. Pull the ends
and it's for you. I.e. people
are fucking awful. That's why
they love poetry. Or hate it.
It's why I'm the right answer
on a test, erased and rewritten
as if the right number of L's
matters to me, a ghost. O Teacher!
Don't force ten lines of my ashed
into a sleepy sophomore's mouth.
He wants other things in that mouth,
classic desires we all know and dare
not repeat.

after Cy Twombly, Six Latin Writers and Poets - Catullus