Grove Koger is the author of When the Going Was Good: A Guide to the 99 Best Narratives of Travel, Exploration, and Adventure, Assistant Editor of Deus Loci: The Lawrence Durrell Journal, and former Assistant Editor of Art Patron magazine. He blogs about travel and related matters at worldenoughblog.wordpress.com/author/gkoger/.
Calypso
The wind has told me a story
and now I’m hot
for this fellow
who spilled blood at Troy
and made himself a name.
Speed him here, you,
I have a gift
he won’t refuse.
Polyphemus
Blinded by No Man,
derided by everyman,
I petition the gods
for justice!
Circe
We tarried
while his men
rooted happily in the mast.
But for one year only …
Witch that I am,
I sensed that he was already
bewitched by the sea.
The Sirens
Fool!
Chained to your ship,
you merely traded one fate
for another. Now
our bright song will
chase you
down all the years.
Argos
Master!
Master!
My master!
Telemachus
I expected someone nobler—
not this scarecrow.
Penelope
My darling,
when I heard your voice
for the first time
in decades,
I looked up to see
the face of a
stranger.
Odysseus
Here’s the truth:
I became an occasion
for lies, theirs and
yours and
even my own.
I forgot
who I was. Now
I wander grim Hades,
shade of a shade.
Previously published in Deus Loci:
The Lawrence Durrell Journal NS 11, 2008-2009.
Poetry in this post: © Grove Koger
Published with the permission of Grove Koger