Ulysses and The Sirens: By John William Waterhouse
Untitled Ekphrastic Poem: By Adam Carter
Rocks and Waves, Ocean smashes together
Reckless and Dangerous, Seas harmonize chaos
Focus and Planned, a crew rows through
Monsters and Myths, told by Greece come to life
Captain and King, Favored by Thoughts’ Daughter
Truth or Lies, unknown until he hears their words
Wit and Will, by a master solve any problem
Forward and floating, his ship approaches sultry words
Desire or Need, the captain struggles against a mast
Desperate and heart filled, voices fall against wax
Wings and feathers, surround his boat
Angry and Vicious, birds lose to bees
Victory and Success, a crew and captain sail forward
Homeward and Happy, at least one of whom will go
Artistic Decisions:
I really enjoyed this particular assignment. I knew I wanted to use a Greek painting, but finding one that really resonated with me was hard. This particular painting I found was not my first choice, but I think it is the choice that most readers could recognize. The painting itself tells one of the odysseys most famous scenes; that of the sirens.
In the heart of poem one thing that I tried to do was add a reference that someone familiar with the story and/or other Greek stories could understand. For instance “thoughts daughter”; anyone can recognize the father of Athena to be Zeus, but I instead chose to reference her mother Metis, the titaness of thought and council.
Another thing that I did was break each set of stanzas up into themes. The first lines set the scene, the second introduced the story, the third built up the conflict, and the fourth was the climax. The fifth and final few lines wrapped up the scene and story that I and the painting told. I was hoping by doing so it would allow me to give the reader a understandable and succinct description, which I feel it was rather successful at.
I did not use generative AI to make this Poem: I forgot to include that