The Omphalos

The Greeks
had gods in the skies gambling
and drunken ones in the forests gamboling
and malevolent ones deep
in the only sea they knew
and ones that lived in your fireplace.




They had rapist gods in the form of amorous swans.

Well, anyway, the Greeks

(should we give them any credence)

believed, amongst all these things,
that the World had a bellybutton.




They called it the Omphalos
and perhaps they went in search
of it by oar and sail.


Such naval (ha ha!)
expeditions were
bound to fail.


This is vessel in which I made
some early explorations of a similar nature.
It was a drinks cabinet.
It was called the Funky Kingston and I gave it away to someone - I cant remember who now.


The trouble with explorations is that
no matter where you go,
you only ever find one thing on them
- the limit of your endurance.

The funky old Greeks had a word for that too.
The Ultima Thule.
The isles of briton where so called.

It is, like the omphalos a geographical point that is not tied down to the Earth. The further the mediterranean cultures explored, the further away they placed the Ultima Thule. It was in the Orkneys by the time of the Romans.

Having found the Furthest Place, the Omphanauts turned back, and when they reached home they found what they had been seeking.

So where do I wish to sail to in my vessel? to the ultima thule or to the omphalos?