collage, mixed media

Michael Ramus
poseidon's anger

Book 5: Lines 323-324

But now Poseidon, god of the earthquake, saw him--
just returning home from his Ethiopian friends,
from miles away on the Solymi mountain-range
he spied Odysseus sailing down the sea
and it made his fury boil even more.
He shook his head and rumbled to himself,
"Outrageous! Look how the gods have changed their minds
about Odysseus--while I was off with my Ethiopians.
Just look at him there, nearing Phaeacia's shores
where he's fated to escape his noose of pain
that's held him until now. Still my hopes ride high--
I'll give that man his swamping fill of trouble!"
With that he rammed the clouds together--both hands
clutching his trident--churned the waves into chaos, whipping

all the gales from every quarter, shrouding over in thunderheads
the earth and sea at once--and night swept down from the sky--