"telemachus" poems
Far too many tides have you held him, Calypso, now let him go:
thus commands Athene daughter of Zeus, She who cannot stand his wails
any more. The fleet-footed Hermes delivers the writ of the heavens.
Does the wail of a mere mortal trouble the mighty Athene more than
the heart of her kin? Will you Hermes not accept a bribe and tell Her you
never found me? That Calypso's home is too hard to find on sea?
The will of Zeus cannot be altered, bow or the bolt will make you kneel.
Twenty years has he suffered, let him go this prisoner of his deeds. Eternity
awaits you: while his soul, death. Let him not regret his life in afterlife.
Thus did I leave on high-tide who steal to my own palace like a thief.
Twenty years play in my mind, but the strongest still is Telemachus's smile.
I leave her who cared so much to win my heart yet only the Zephyr -
Brought me cheer, that carried the smell of home and Penelope fair.
Here I leave the immortal who will die for me: for her who I know not if she
loves me yet. Who Athene brings don't fail me in life, even if they falter.
Oct 10, 2012
Oct 10, 2012 at 2:38 PM UTC
Finnegan, begin again
is it time to wake?
The belfry bats are singing
from the yew trees, "heigh **
heigh ** heigh hooooo . . . "
as lips lip fleshless lips of air
Bloom clinks a glass with
M'Intosh, "Three quarks
for Muster Mark!" and
Stephen drinks tea from
lotus flowers poured by
Nausicaa while sirens call
between the clashing rocks
"Come home Telemachus, come
home Penelope, come home
Mary, come
home . . . "
Apr 5, 2014
Apr 5, 2014 at 5:36 AM UTC
We'd like to think that we could go
Out for an evening and not have to worry
That we are going to end up being
The helpless victim of a gunman's fury.
One would think that mass shootings
In which so many lives are lost
Might compel lawmakers
To stop the killings at any cost.
When so many shootings occur
On American soil year after year,
Don't enough people wonder
What the hell is happening here?
What are people waiting for?
How many more victims will die?
Must we sit by helplessly
While lawmakers turn a blind eye?
Another horrific act of violence
Occurred at the Borderline Bar & Grill
When a solitary gunman
Had one thing on his mind: to ****
Eleven young people gunned down.
An officer shot dead as well.
Only survivors who were present
Can talk about their glimpse of hell.
The killer, too, lost his life
From a wound, possibly self-inflicted.
Some say in retrospect
His actions could have been predicted.
No one can fathom the suffering
Of the victims' parents, families and friends--
Their heartache and anguish from knowing that
Their loved ones met such violent ends.
Just two weeks before Thanksgiving!
This year it will be a chore
To ask the parents staring at empty
Seats what they are thankful for.
A call to action is the only response
To the horror that this nightmare evokes
When twelve innocent victims must
Lose their lives in Thousand Oaks.
Remember the victims:
Sgt. Ron Helus (54)
Sean Adler (48)
Cody Coffman (22)
Blake Dingman (21)
Jake Dunham (21)
Alaina Housley (18)
Daniel Manrique (33)
Justin Meek (23)
Mark Meza (20)
Kristina Morisette (20)
Telemachus Orfanos (27)
Noel Sparks (21)
A mother of one of the victims has said,
"Here are my words. I want gun control.
I don't want prayers. I don't want thoughts."
-by Bob B (11-9-18)
Nov 9, 2018
Nov 9, 2018 at 10:13 AM UTC
Nightfall. A sliver of moon in the sky. The rumbling and tumbling of shouting free spirits toss around the meandering darkness. All that segments this organic manifestation, is an occasional, thump.
At least to the narrator. One ‘blessed’ step at a time. The eternal and everlasting thump of one foot in front of the other. Wonder if my longing and hammered foot travels as Telemachus?
The birds chirp in harmonious rhythm. Odd. Should either chirp with a sway, or be passed out, by now. All us tethered beings should swing with the immortal swing, or so I’m thinking.
Tick, tock. Arabica, slam. Jam with the jittery, immortal jam. Or whatever garb I had been throwing my way. Passed through the ‘wisdom’ of my culture, and greedily accepted by my reward circuity.
One big, machine ‘learner’.
Putting that all behind us, it always leaves a longing soul with gritting teeth.
So there I was. 4 p.m. Caffeine crash can’t even begin to describe it. A ‘crash’ designates a single day. A single face to face relationship with ones decision to kiss and tango with a sacred substance.
I was knee, I say knee, deep, in an affair.
At that point it’s not just some shallow reaction to your mind grasping at some crutch it has designated for a moment.
Not to be dramatic. But habit flows to river real quick.
So there I was. 4 p.m. Tryin to swim.
All I had for a life raft. *****
Get drunk with my friends. That giddy, pushin others on my level on a weekday, giddy.
Push that bravais lattice, PDE numerical simulation, concentration boundary layer, **** to the side.
I was tryin’ to push MY boundary layer.
Yet here I am. 2 a.m.
Everyone is sleepin’.
All I have for company is my, thump, thump, thump.
On my way to the ocean.
Because God will listen to me Cry, and Scream.
Jul 16, 2015
Jul 16, 2015 at 5:35 AM UTC
Dragon
Swallows
Tail
Left arm
High
My boy Jack
Caramel and honeyed
Union of
Opposites:
Twenty-five
Years
Beyond odysseus
Wandered from you.
Your mother,
No penelope
My picture
Disfigured
Darted
Wounded
Cursed I roam
Wine-dark aegean.
Suitors succeed
And you are
Lost to me.
Goodbye telemachus
River boat gambler
Pencil moustache
Shoestring tie
How I picture you
Jack of hearts
How the ladies
Swoon
Nov 8, 2016
Nov 8, 2016 at 2:22 AM UTC