Remembered Version Poem by Jared Carter

Remembered Version



Odysseus is wroth she's changed his crew
to swine; coached by Hermes, he draws his sword
and threatens her. She quickly makes them new
again - drinks on the house - and not a word
is said. They stay a year. The crew goes off
to hunt; Odysseus goes underground
to see Tiresias. Returned, he doffs
his armor, and he and the enchantress lounge
around on her big bed. It's a good life,
and why they'd give it up is hard to say.
Maybe it wears off - that subtle potion
she keeps slipping in their wine. Or his wife
calls - "Can't work this quilt another day."
They head on out, across the wine-dark ocean.


First published in The Formalist.

Monday, May 22, 2017
Topic(s) of this poem: literature,love and friendship,mythology
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Daniel Brick 23 May 2017

I like your poem very much. I taught ODYSSEY for almost 20 years to 10th graders, I know it well and something puzzled me in the way you set up the chronology. Odysseus, having disarmed Circe with Hermes's help, is Circe's lover for a year of indulgence. When he finally breaks free (his men are impatient) she detours him to the Underworld. When he swings back to her island they sleep together one more night and he leaves. Your poem makes it sound as if he spent more time with her, resuming their affair. Did you intend that ambiguity? Odysseus is a scoundrel in other Greek writing. ONLY in Homer's Odyssey is he a hero. Not even the ILIAD, where he's a wheeler-dealer. SO I want to preserve his heroism in ODYSSEY.That's why this ambiguity concerns me. This in no way diminishes the cleverness, irony, relevance of your poem.

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