Titos Patrikios

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VII
From the badly stuccoed walls of twilight
the oil, the kitchens of the poor houses,
the orphanage, the groomed village boys
of the stars,
life never stops coming like heavy rain
of flags and wheat.
Our glance, a fish with excellent memory
swims in the tight veins of the sky.
You love the marble, the clay, the old freedom
of the trees, all the elements and their combinations
all the geometry of the stars —
you love not to love
but to carry your love further.
You love life.
You love motion, a blind insect, an animal
from the other side of time that has lost you,
you love all the dirt path we’ve passed together.
You love man.
You love sadness, a spring that widens the contour
of lips, two gnarled, forgotten hands,
you know and love man
so that you will gather drop by drop
seed after seed
stone after stone
an act after an act
his true self
scattered amid the pollen and rivers
lost amid the furniture and movie theaters.
They run, they run with a few sobs in their embrace
to get satiated by the leftovers of the wind
to fool the cold with their rags of truth —
no I’ll never be able to see the fluid metal of his enclosed
hands in every man again
a life overworked by life.
We must march on.

https://draft2digital.com/book/3562972

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L1TJNNF

Nikos Engonopoulos – Poems

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Poetry 1948
this season
of the civil war
is not time
for poetry
if something
is written
it is as if
it was written
on the other side
of death
announcements
for this reason
my poems
are so sad
(Besides, when weren’t they?)
and they are
especially
just a few

https://draft2digital.com/book/3744799#print

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763734

Hours of the Stars

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Christening
The parents remember
the long faces of grandfather and grandmother
and they feel guilty
how can you call
Adeadatos instead of Theodoros
and Precious instead of Diotima
as if the godparents were
demons and pagans?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763408

Red in Black

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Silence
Invincible silence in side streets
abandoned, unprofitable factories
complacency that prepares
the nation for war
force of universal good
the leader said they represented
blonde hair shone in the gleam
of sundown, purple dusk
vein severed from logic
undoubted silence of mass media
isolated incidents of violence reported
anchor concentrated on the divorce
of famous cinema power couple
nation preparing for another war
its rightful right, being
the force of universal good

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1771713208

George Seferis

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II Child
When I started growing up the trees horrified me,
why do you smile? Did your mind go to spring that
is so rough for children?
I liked the green leaves a lot
I think I learned a little at school because the blotting-paper
on my desk was also green
the roots of the trees tormented me when in the warmth of winter
they would come and coil around my body
I had no other dreams when I was a child
that’s how I came to know my body.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096TTS37J

Swamped

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excerpt

…fifteen or so big commercial ships anchored in the bay, and on the
far side of the water at beautiful Stanley Park and further off the Kitsilano
district and the UBC lands to their right, the green thickets of
trees, the roofs of houses, the big apartment buildings, and above
them the airplanes descending slowly as they approached the airport
in flat, distant Richmond, all such familiar sights and yet as fresh and
fascinating every day as if never enjoyed before. Eteo and Ariana
seemed to register the view in the logbook of their souls, tuned to
the same sounds and echoes, to the same relaxation methods and to
the same fiery lovemaking, to the same thoughts and wishes. Their
souls were in tune.
The following Saturday Eteo picked Ariana up from her apartment
and drove to BC Place and the private room Pacific Trends had
rented for the year. A few other people were already there: the vice
president of Pacific Trends, Lucas Stonewall, and his girlfriend, Isabel,
the head trader John with his wife Ekaterina, the head of the accounting
department Dean Magnusen with his girlfriend and two other
women. While the introductions were in progress, Bradley came in
with his girlfriend, a woman of South Asian heritage called Pari.
Other guests soon followed, and in a few minutes the room was full.
The drinks flowed freely and everyone had something in their hands
while they chitchatted and laughed. Eteo sided up to Bradley and
proudly introduced Ariana to him
“So you’re the one who has brought a smile back to Eteo’s lips,”
Bradley quipped as he shook Ariana’s hand. “I’m very pleased to meet
you.”
Ariana only smiled and blushed at his comment.
Before the game started, Bradley took a moment to address them
all.
“I wanted to inform you that this week’s success goes to Eteo,
who introduced Pacific Trends to a new venture, Platinum Properties,
which has made the firm some good money already, and we hope
will make a lot more in the weeks and months to come. Cheers to
Eteo, then. This has been his week.”
“Not bad for a Cretan immigrant,” Bradley called out with a
laugh, “and yes, recommend Platinum to all your clients,”…

https://draft2digital.com/book/3562976

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WP3LMPX

Neo-Hellene Poets, an Anthology of Modern Greek Poetry

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IMAGE
Come, beloved image,
come, my wife, accompany me,
stay close forever,
protect me from life’s pitfalls.
My only guardian angel,
counsel my steps and keep them safe,
and if I lose my bearings,
come light the way before me
Your light sustains my virtue
and preserves my faithfulness
because I know that you are mine
I feel you in my spirit
and know not how to call you,
whether my wife or my soul!

https://draft2digital.com/book/3562959

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763513

He Rode Tall

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excerpt

Raising the Winchester 30-30 to his shoulder, he took aim at
the cat. Just as the crazed cougar moved forward, stalking the
unsuspecting filly isolated at the edge of the herd less than
twenty yards away, Joel took his shot. Crack! The dog yelled, the
horses scattered, and the cat’s body dropped to the ground. Without
waiting to see if a second shot was necessary, Joel flew out of
the house and raced to the tree line where he had last seen the
cat. Harry and Tanya chased after him. Then he saw it. The big
cat was dead. One shot through the head. His horses were safe.
But in a way Joel felt sorry for this poor wild beast that was so ill
that it had to risk its life to stalk his horses.
Harry pulled the cat out of the grass by the tail so they could
get a better look. Over six feet in length, the cougar was an older
male with his ribs pathetically showing, it would not have made
it through another cold winter in the hills. Joel had done himself,
his horses, his neighbors, and the cat a favor by putting it out of
its misery.
That night he called Cindy to report the day’s activities. The
two of them had started talking with each other late at night,
which gave Cindy time to spend with Lila after dinner. Joel knew
that Lila would always be number one in Cindy’s life. He liked
that in a woman. Over the years, he had met women who were
willing to leave their children, some emotionally, some physically,
to be with a man, and he knew that was wrong. No matter
where his relationship with Cindy went, he knew that, at best, he
would be number two in her life. And that was a good thing.

https://draft2digital.com/book/3562862

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0980897955

Wellspring of Love

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excerpt

“You’re not eating much, Aunt Millie. Perhaps that’s your trouble.
Don’t you feel hungry?”
Millie had smiled and got up to put preserved peaches and peanut
butter cookies on the table. “Just a result of feeling weary, nothing
more. Don’t worry yourself, dear boy. I’m fine.”
But she had not convinced him, and the thing he had been hoping
to talk to her about – Rachael’s problematic friendship with Lyssa –
had been put off. He knew he couldn’t burden Aunt Millie further,
even if she was, as she said, just tired.
Ronald turned over in bed – again – and looked at his alarm
clock. Almost midnight! He may as well have gone to the dance in
Spirit Lake after all, except that he didn’t have a date. Not that it mattered
much, but his friends were all dating now and he didn’t want to
appear more of an outsider than he already knew he was. Sometimes
those same friends razzed him for not drinking or smoking. He had
tried smoking when he was fourteen but decided he would rather be
an outsider than suffer the choking and coughing that resulted from
his first drag on a cigarette. They also razzed him occasionally for
going to church, especially Morley’s church.
“Holy Rollers,” they would say with disdain. “Hey, Harrison,
what do they do in that church, anyway?”
And more than once Ronald, refusing to be riled or offended, had
answered, “Why don’t you come see for yourselves?”
With the realization that in just a few hours he would be getting
up to go to church, Ronald sighed, settled his head more comfortably
on the pillow and tried to put Aunt Millie, Rachael and every other
thought out of his mind.
ͣͣ
Tyne closed her Bible and placed it on the bedside table, being careful
not to disturb Morley who had been asleep for some time. Rachael
must be due home, but so far Tyne hadn’t heard her come in.

https://draft2digital.com/book/3562917

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763327

Yannis Ritsos – Poems, Volume I

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OCEAN’S MARCH

Leave us only
the night’s ecstasy
when the children fish for stars
in the snow white caiques
when naked and handsome ephebes
stare straight at beauty’s eyes
without suspicion or fear
Return to us
the paper ships
to moor in a well known harbor
of our first homeland
For a moment
we shall kneel on the sand
and we shall pray
in front of our indomitable shadow
while the sea’s sad Virgin Mary
will quietly open the front door of the church
and will lean to kiss our hair
drenched by the slender dew of stars
of silence and of the night
Although we
shall again deny
the kiss of love
that soothes and ties…

https://draft2digital.com/book/3562834

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763076