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This poem is taken from PN Review 163, Volume 31 Number 5, May - June 2005.

Three Poems Valerie Jack

The Cambridge Latin Course
Salvi, vir crudelis es.

Wrote that I was looking out
Of a bay window, wide panes,
Something about the rain drops,
Was looking out and knew
My family was dead.
I had to go to an orphanage.

Ego ad hanc villam venire nolebam.

We had to pull grey socks to knee height
And the damp was too.
I did not want to come to this house.

You are a cruel man.
River meandered because I'd learnt the word meandering.
He had to leave the river behind.
It was hot, there was no water for his donkey.
...


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