8 1 18 12 15 20
by DREW SKELTON
They danced across the fertile earth,
his mind alert and focused,
desire opened up inside him like a sail,
and they go on their way in flowing skirts.
These nights are magical.
Sleep takes hold, relaxes him, and releases him from his worries.
Notes:
Drew remixed words and phrases from Emily Wilson's translation of Homer's Odyssey to reflect particular characters or moments from the Epic of Gilgamesh. This piece recalls Shamash, a temple prostitute, teaching Enkidu, born in the wilderness, to be human.
The numbers below the title correspond to Odyssey book numbers. Drew devised the title by associating book numbers with letters of the alphabet (e.g., book 1 = A, book 20 = T). The list of numbers also indicates the book from which each line in the poem has been drawn (e.g., line 1 comes from book 8, line 4 from book 12).
