Long Ptolemy Poems

Brains and guts orbit the soul—
that polar star searing in the marrow of being.

I was born somewhere between Einstein’s neurons
Ginsburg beat poetry, the birth of rock and roll, revolution marches,
and the calloused hands of a...

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Alexandria, Egypt is well known for being the city where Cleopatra once ruled her people and both she and her famous lover, Mark Anthony met their final, tragic fates.  It is where the "Pharos...

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Come join the unraveling circus
quite soon to be passing our way,
with the clowns in a clamor to twerk us -
line up as they lead us astray!

Arriving, the elephant trumpets
agendas of aberrant acts
while the donkeys drool,...

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Odyssey from Africa 14g

“This research by young Alinda
Tells us something most important 
For we find upon our beaches
Plants that are entirely different 

“From the flora on our island 
Or from the adjacent mainland 
This can...

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Odyssey from Africa 15c (Southland, continued...)

Being rich in skill and talent
He soon gained the feel and measure 
Of the boomerang’s employment 
Sent it arching near the treetops 
 
Then returning where it started
As the king...

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Chapter 14d (King Ptolemy the second, cont.)

https://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-Africa-adventures-Phil-Salmon/dp/197392479X


“And upon the open ocean
Far from land in roving sail-ships
How to find the congregations 
Of the sharks and rays and tuna

“Where the seabirds thresh the water
Diving after shoals of...

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16b Stargazing 

Here they filed into a hallway
Into almost total darkness
Just a pair of flick’ring candles
Led them to an inner circle
 
At its center was a platform 
Where a single chair was mounted 
At an...

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Odyssey from Africa 14f

This colossal ratite was the
Largest bird on all the planet
It would live on Madagascar 
Till the time of William Shakespeare

“Let me tell you” said the monarch 
Quietly pleased at Han’s reaction 
“What...

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King Ptolemy the Second (cont.)

Sleek of line for speedy sailing 
It was rugged in construction 
Several layers of well cured timber
Lined the hull and bridge and gunwales 
 
There were four great masts with mainsails
Han...

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Chapter 14b (King Ptolemy the Second)

With a travel bag to carry
Their belongings and essentials
And they rode by wheel-borne carriage 
On the road down to the harbour 
 
There they stepped aboard the vessel
That would take...

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Chapter 11 The Island Kingdom (f, continued...)

Near the north-most cape they passed, there
Lay the kingdom’s foremost city
By the name of Cannabarro
Here was found the royal palace

Of Ptolemy the Second.
In our time this city has the...

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Odyssey from Africa 15b (Southland)

“Like an antelope in stature 
Yet they hopped along like sparrows!
On big hind limbs like a rabbit’s
With a rat-like tail behind them
 
“At the sight of such strange wonders
I was wakened...

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Chapter 13d

Yet at length he reawakened 
As if in another lifetime 
Han discerned a sound and movement 
Stiffly rose to look about him

And he saw his precious Matto
Crouching near him in the vessel!
That was now...

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We’re not called upon to choose anything we live through;
Neither parent nor sibling nor school nor form of sinew;
Neither colour of hair or eye or skin,
Nor love or hate, nor loss or gain
Nor opportunities nor...

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CHAPTER 11b The Island Kingdom, continued...

In an ocean-going vessel
Now this group of island warriors 
Journeyed on an expedition 
From the island to the mainland 

Han could sense a strength of purpose 
And a loyalty between...

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CHapter 14 King Ptoleny the 2nd (cont.)

Thus they charted weather systems 
Grey depressions bringing rainclouds,
Towering dark cumulonimbus,
Or the violent storms and cyclones
 
And in turn this processed data,
One or two days’ weather forecast,
Spirited across the...

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https://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-Africa-adventures-Phil-Salmon/dp/197392479X


Chapter 14c

Warriors of mighty stature
Armed with blades of shining metal
Fire-wrought bronze, a work of wonder,
Walked beside a bright-robed figure

Slight of build and short in stature 
Whitening hair around his temples 
Now the warriors introduced him
As...

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Continuation from previous poem

We reached the footer of a castle steep,
Seven times by walls encircled very tall,
Defended by a river hard to leap.

We overpassed it as hard ground at all;
Through seven doors I entered with...

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Imagine that someone wants to argue against the existence of air
All the while breathing in air
The Catholics have the Mitered Buffoon
They say Protestants have the “Paper Pope” too
Immanuel Kant said you can’t bring the noumenal...

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As I paddled the river Nile
I met a monstrous crocodile. 
She smiled at me enticingly.   
I smiled deferentially.  
Through large white teeth to me she said, 
"I want you in my river...

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Love you're
the first
lighthouse
with a bright beacon
that shines across
this ocean 

Carved into foundations
chiseled within emotions
plastered covered feelings
etched in stone
Climbing each step
a winding staircase
one skyscraper
heading towards
the Heaven's

A lofty 
tower built
standing tallest
rising from
out of the ground
one kingdom
White stone...

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Our parent galaxy Milky Way
has a nebula giving birth
to stars neath ‘baby blanket’ array
that’s one of the closest to Earth

of astral-forming regions around—
Rho Ophiuchi Complex Cloud,
named for the bright stellar body found
in its picturesque dusty...

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HOUR OF POWER

If I remember rightly, someone once said
Enough of all this farce, democracy is dead
So don’t let any of it mess with your head

In some democracies, a President is elected
But in others, it is...

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Ended is my week to make Satan smile
The weather forecast calls for sun all day
My camping gear sits in an unpacked pile
As, of course, pouring rain has come this way
I was headed outside to cleanse...

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Lift your celestial gaze to be amazed in Wonder
As has Ptolemy, then Copernicus and Kepler after
Who are the capricious Gods who dance in wander
To revere Mercury? Venus? Mars? Saturn? Jupiter? 

Ptolemy imagined a play staged...

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