Book Ten

Start

Flat on

Mat, raise left

Knee, hip, shoulder, 

Head to side sit, right 

Elbow on mat, end in

Bottom starting position.



Queen 

Woken 

By nanny,

Odysseus 

Ordered wedding dance,

Penelope tested

Him using olive tree bed.



Your

Eyes met

In locker

Room, both changing,

Hidden by singlets,

Adjusted pointing up,

Fingers occupied with straps.



From 

Neutral 

Position,

Drop level, right

Foot penetrates, moves 

Between partner's legs to 

Right knee, stands up, faced away.



Queen 

Told of

Challenges

In the past, what

Tiresias saw:

Comfort in old age if

Oar carried to landlocked men.



Last 

Match to

Tournament,

Wrestler dropped down,

Grabbed your leg, you fell

Back, swung around on top,

Cross faced perpendicular.



Stand 

Behind 

Partner, hands

On his hips, in 

Bottom position,

When he circles left, right,

Stay behind him, same level.



Ghosts

Reckoned 

With their deaths,

Agamemnon's,

Achilles', name, fame,

Hermes guided suitors,

Spirits questioned their presence.



His 

Left leg,

Chin locked, you

Flipped him over,

Your left leg over

His right leg, your right knee 

Into side, cradled to pin.



Two

Wrestlers

Stand facing 

Each other, hands 

Gripped, one arches back 

Lowers his head to mat,

Feet flat, pulled up, repeated.



Lies

Testing,

Deceiving,

Odysseus 

Surprised Laertes

In his garden, suitors'

Corpses left piled, unburied.



Your 

Name rose

In bracket,

Other wrestlers 

Acknowledged you in

Locker room, warming up,

Bantering during showers.



Stand,

Left side 

Of head on

Partner's back, his

Left leg between legs,

Bend knees, grip waist, lift him 

From waist, straighten legs, arch back.



Meal

Eaten,

Ithacans

Buried suitors,

Debated response,

Halitherses to stay,

Eupeithes to take up arms.



Prep

School league 

Tournament 

Morning weigh-in,

Visiting wrestlers, 

Coaches, team managers

Occupied all gym bleachers.



Stand,

Back to 

Partner's front,

His hands around 

Waist, grip his wrists, drop

Level, break hold, pull one

Arm up, one down, rotate hips.



Spear

Thrown by

Laertes

Killed Eupeithes,

Ithacans sought their

Revenge, Odysseus'

Response stopped by Athena.



Boys

Stripped down,

Stood naked

In full view for 

Skin checks, weigh-ins by

Judicial referees:

The gymnos eromenos.




21 May 2024




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