James Joyce and the Man from Greece

James Joyce sat down after wandering Dublin,
remembering he had left one story out.
What better than to borrow an old tale
from the Greeks and give it to a Dubliner?
Now a short story was too small,
it would have to be an epic or noting at all.

Half way through the Sirens episode,
Joyce heard a knock at the door.
He opened it to find a man from Greece
waiting on the porch. He said;
'Are you the scribe writing my obituary?'
'On the contrary,' Joyce answered.

The man told Joyce that he was from Ithaca
and asked if he could read the first draft.
Joyce hesitated before asking about his job.
The man said he just escaped Polyphemus,
but he had taken a wrong turn somewhere.
With no map or compass, he could be anywhere.

The man from Greece kept reading Joyce's book.
When he got to the Lotus Eaters he stopped.
'Where is this Dublin of which you speak?' he asked.
'You're standing in it,' Joyce replied.
The man seemed confused.
'This is most strange to me, last time I checked
I was going to meet Circe.'.

He went on to ask,
'Who is this Dedalus and Bloom?'
Joyce answered, 'Dedalus is me, Bloom is you.'
'That's no good,' the main said,
'If anything, Dedalus is Telemachus!
Why are you calling me as the Romans do?'

Joyce was stunned.
'I'll do a second draft,' he said.
'Good.' the man answered,
'It gave me a headache.
Now if you'll excuse me,
my wife is waiting for me.
I'm twenty years late as it is.'

(This is one of my attempts at being a "serious" poet having studied James Joyce's Ulysses two years ago. The results may vary but it was fun to write.)