I, Clodia, and other portraits
Auckland University Press, 2014
The 32 poems of "I, Clodia" are imaginary translations of the poems that might have been written by Clodia Metelli, the Lesbia of the Catullus love (and hate) poems. In the second half of the collection, a sequence about a photographer who is embarrassed to find herself obsessed with portraiture introduces a series of poems about characters worrying about hairs on a pillow, a coin in the throat, a false claim about Coleridge, a son charged with assault, a daughter engaged to a man she doesn't seem to like, a dog's inability to speak, sensor doors that refuse to open.
Buy I, Clodia, and other portraits
The Catullus poems that the Clodia poems respond to, or provoke, can all be read, in my translations, here.
The 32 poems of "I, Clodia" are imaginary translations of the poems that might have been written by Clodia Metelli, the Lesbia of the Catullus love (and hate) poems. In the second half of the collection, a sequence about a photographer who is embarrassed to find herself obsessed with portraiture introduces a series of poems about characters worrying about hairs on a pillow, a coin in the throat, a false claim about Coleridge, a son charged with assault, a daughter engaged to a man she doesn't seem to like, a dog's inability to speak, sensor doors that refuse to open.
Buy I, Clodia, and other portraits
The Catullus poems that the Clodia poems respond to, or provoke, can all be read, in my translations, here.
Cover design by Kalee Jackson
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“Look at what was my little bird, |
"Meticulously researched, technically precise, and psychologically persuasive…" Amy Brown, Cordite
"If these are photographs, at times it is like entering the photo negative, where things are dreamlike, with the melancholy of the dark room adhering..." Paula Green, NZ Poetry Shelf
"vintage Jackson, blending classical source material with a witty, colloquial and utterly contemporary style" Sarah Quigley, New Zealand Listener
"Wholly original...The complex and precarious nature of Roman politics is never far away, but the most satisfying aspect of these poems is the creation of a credible and engaging personality" John Horrocks, Landfall
"Portraiture…seems to be a strong suit. Jackson has given Clodia a new life…She is not some biographical splinter of the author’s psyche. " Elizabeth Morton, Poetry New Zealand
"The sequence, ‘I, Clodia’, in contrast [with "Catullus for Children"] appears to be set in an alternative, hyper-reality, more akin to an élite, futuristic-ancient-Rome than a warm, sandy New Zealand setting...While these poems are inspired by ‘Some Poet from the Provinces’7 who has been dead for over two thousand years, her engagement with both Catullus and Clodia is very much alive and in the present." Marguerite Johnson, International Journal of the Classical Tradition
"With its pitch-perfect mix of classical high drama and a glorious, loping, feminist street-cred, I, Clodia delivers literary history like never before" Anne Kennedy
"fine and dramatic and fresh and original and clever and moving - especially moving as the sequence goes on" C K Stead
"I am strongly moved by this sequence. I love the subtle touches - for those who know the personaggi Catulliani there are charming in-jokes..." Marilyn Skinner
"If these are photographs, at times it is like entering the photo negative, where things are dreamlike, with the melancholy of the dark room adhering..." Paula Green, NZ Poetry Shelf
"vintage Jackson, blending classical source material with a witty, colloquial and utterly contemporary style" Sarah Quigley, New Zealand Listener
"Wholly original...The complex and precarious nature of Roman politics is never far away, but the most satisfying aspect of these poems is the creation of a credible and engaging personality" John Horrocks, Landfall
"Portraiture…seems to be a strong suit. Jackson has given Clodia a new life…She is not some biographical splinter of the author’s psyche. " Elizabeth Morton, Poetry New Zealand
"The sequence, ‘I, Clodia’, in contrast [with "Catullus for Children"] appears to be set in an alternative, hyper-reality, more akin to an élite, futuristic-ancient-Rome than a warm, sandy New Zealand setting...While these poems are inspired by ‘Some Poet from the Provinces’7 who has been dead for over two thousand years, her engagement with both Catullus and Clodia is very much alive and in the present." Marguerite Johnson, International Journal of the Classical Tradition
"With its pitch-perfect mix of classical high drama and a glorious, loping, feminist street-cred, I, Clodia delivers literary history like never before" Anne Kennedy
"fine and dramatic and fresh and original and clever and moving - especially moving as the sequence goes on" C K Stead
"I am strongly moved by this sequence. I love the subtle touches - for those who know the personaggi Catulliani there are charming in-jokes..." Marilyn Skinner
