Poetry. Translated from the Latin by Ryan Gallagher: a bluesy, contemporary, fun and salacious version of this ancient lyric poet-it is blues from ancient Rome. Latin and essays included. "Gaius Valerius Catullus is distinguished from all the other writers of antiquity by his vulnerability. He is the most personal of Latin poets, and more personal than any Greek poet including Sappho.... if his love poems could only be duplicated in English they would be popular at every level of society and might be sung in night clubs or by rock groups." Kenneth Rexroth
 

"I pothered but
you’ll have bothered
Catullus played Bach."
Louis Zukofsky