Epistulae 4.14

 

Haec tibi mittuntur, quem sum modo carmine questus
non aptum numeris nomen habere meis

Tuticanus
– what a name!
I can’t think what to say to you except

get me out of here
anything would be better
Mt Purgatory

Guantanamo Bay
Iraq
the locals have got tired

of hearing me complain
yes once again
my work’s got me in trouble

& once again
I’m innocent
I like them

I just hate the place we’re in
admittedly I moan about the cold
the sieges

gunfights
gangmembers
but never a word against

my gentle hosts
they won’t let me pay taxes
call me their poet

far kinder
than you people
if only they lived further

from the pole