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Gray-eyed Athena, daughter of Metis and
Zeus
Was goddess of wisdom and a champion
of truth.
She urged Zeus to listen to Odysseus’
plight
And soon to Kalypso, Hermes took flight.
But, oh, let’s not hasten too fast through
this tale
Of Odysseus’ journey, there’s much
to unveil.
His first female contact with danger
so near
Was on the Isle of Aiaia where he
stayed for one year.
A dread goddess named Circe with magical
wine
Turned Odysseus’ men into pitiful
swine.
But Hermes warned Odysseus and gave
him some “moly”
So Circe’s bold plan soon became a
mere folly.
When she turned the men back at Odysseus’
plea
They begged her to let them set sail
on the sea.
But Circe insisted to Hades they go
For a consult with Teiresias, a prophet
below.
In Hades, Odysseus saw his mother’s lost
soul
While awaiting her drink from the
darkest blood bowl.
Antikleia soon knew him, answering questions
galore
But wondered what brought him to the
Underworld’s shore.
From Hades to Aiaia, Odysseus went
For Elpenor had died, oh such forlorned
lament.
The Circe gave details of a much safer
way
To avoid all the creatures under whom
men fell prey.
But although she did warn them, the wind
drove them on
To the isle of the Sirens with their
deadliest song.
Odysseus packed beeswax in all his
men’s ears
While his crew tied him down to allay
their own fears.
Once safe from the Sirens, engrossed had
they been
Watching Charybdis when old Skylla
moved in.
She quickly ate six of Odysseus’ men
While the others rowed fast to escape
from her den.
Now Skylla had six heads with two sets of
teeth
And continuously searched round for
something to eat,
But shining Charybdis was dangerous
too
For, if pulled in her whirlpool, no
god could un-do.
The men ate some cattle and met their demise
While Odysseus drifted under storm-ridden
skies.
At last, on Ogygia, he finally found
land
But fell to the mercy of Kalypso’s
hand.
She promised to make him immortal you see
If he would just love her and never
go free.
As seven years passed, he remained
on the isle
Where he shed many tears, but never
a smile.
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Athena sent Hermes to liberate him
From the grasp of Kalypso’s powerful
whim.
The gods felt it time that he should be free
So Kalypso helped build him a ship
to set sea.
Soon Poseidon took notice of Odysseus’ ship
And made perilous waves that would
devastate it.
But, birdlike in nature, Leukothea
did come
With a cloak in her beak for Odysseus
to don.
With the magical cloak as a means to survive
He landed in Scheria barely alive.
Left washed up on shore all tattered
and torn
All feared him but one on that fateful
morn.
Nausikaa, the daughter of a Phaiakian king
Was sought by Athena to help the poor
thing.
She asked her attendants to come to
his aid
With clothing and olive oil as a pomade.
The Phaiakians steered Odysseus to Ithaka’s
shore
Where Athena poured mist to disguise
him some more.
He sprang and stood upright and looked all
about
Where he had landed, he hoped to find
out.
Disguised as a shepherd, Athena came near
To enlighten Odysseus that Ithaka
was here.
She then made him look like a beggar
to see
What had happened to the suitors and
Penelope.
Once inside the palace, Penelope did ask
One of her servants to perform a kind
task.
Eurykleia then bathed Odysseus’ worn
feet
And noticed a scar from the boar that
he beat.
Great joy filled the old nurse as she recognized
Odysseus’ person even with his disguise.
She wanted to share the great news
and event
But Odysseus warned her she must be silent.
Soon word of a contest was openly spread
To determine which suitor Penelope
would wed.
Twelve axe-heads she claimed must
be shot with his bow
The one to accomplish it would be
her beau.
But the suitors were killed by Odysseus
you see
Who then hastened to find his Penelope.
He revealed his identity and asked
for her hand
She, not certain of him, had more
proof to demand.
Odysseus, hurt deeply, nonetheless did agree
And described the strange thing ‘bout
their bed and the tree.
Penelope then knew that Odysseus was
real
Together at last, they’d survived
their ordeal.
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A constant wind lifted the sand into the
air,
It taunted the water into waves
That collided with the rocky point in bursts
of flair.
The spiky palm roof of Zamas provided the shade
From the shirt pulling hands of the persistent sun,
Inside the ultramarine and candle yellow cave.
The smell of empanadas and tortillas resounded in the stomach
like drums.
I ate guacamole by the spoonful,
Savoring its salty spice and crab red tomato crumbs.
Three walls were open to the view of gulls,
Froth spray and baked curls of seaweed,
A stray dog scratched at the sand like a charging bull
Reminding me of frantic urban speed,
I felt the ground beneath my toes, and thought to breathe.
(Lisa Shaw is a twelfth-grade student at
Champlain Valley Union High School in Charlotte, VT.)
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