at ten I went with my grandparents
to visit my iowa cousins polly in
ninth grade took me to her latin class
I deciphered the first few exercises
a farmer called agricola later I said
to an older cousin latin makes you think
she said “uncle wess asked me once
did I know what was an educated man
when I shook my head he said ‘an educated
man is one who has taught his mind to think
his hand to act and his heart to feel’ – you
can see where I’ve copied it in my notebook”
I copied it into my own notebook too it was
for me a description of grampa himself
This article appears in Dec 4-10, 2014.
