CHARYBDIS

Ulysses hanging from the branch of a fig tree, looking
down in terror at the whirlpool Charybdis, Scylla as a
sea monster writhing around rocks at left; after a watercolour
by Fuseli (Schiff 1362), illustration to Pope's translation of
 Homer's 'Odyssey'; proof before letters. 1806 Engraving and
 etching © The Trustees of the British Museum no.1853,1210.557

photocredit: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_
online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.
aspx?assetId=164619&objectId=1652214&partId=1

SHE TAKES ONE GULP

her horrible whirlpool gulping the sea-surge down, down
but when she spewed it up—like a cauldron over a raging fire—
all her churning depths would seethe 
               ~Charybdis, Odyssey Book 12, Robert Fagels trans.

thirsting eros tempts soul
a whirlpool near grabs &
pulls with more force, aflame
like a cauldron seethes
pushing toward art

©2014 HER SWALLOW BELCHES FROM A GROUNDLESS STATE
stephaniepope mythopoetry.com #ohj whirlpool, tempts