“Tell me about a complicated man. 
Muse, tell me how he wandered and was lost
when he had wrecked the holy town of Troy, 
and where he went, and who he met, the pain 
he suffered in the storms at sea, and how
he worked to save his life and bring his men
back home. He failed to keep them safe; poor fools,
they ate the Sun God’s cattle, and the god
kept them from home. Now goddess, child of Zeus,
tell the old story for our modern times.
Find the beginning.”

― Emily Wilson, The Odyssey

Emily Wilson’s straightforward, energetic translation incapsulates my feelings about the complex hero Odysseus. My Odysseus is a young, vulnerable man at the start of his adventures. He is 60 cm tall – the size of my kiln. Once fired he will wear a splendid red cloak.