Still Waters

On By vequinoxIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Excerpt

…where are we going to live? Have you even thought about it?”
“Of course I have.” He sounded surprised that she would ask.
“Until I’ve finished my residency, we can live with Mother and Dad.
Goodness knows, the house is big enough. We won’t be able to afford
a home of our own until I have my own practice, and then maybe
not for some time.”
“But we don’t need anything elaborate at first, just as long as we
have our own place. We could get an apartment – like this one that
Moe and I are renting.”
He turned his head to look out of the car window at the houses
along the street, many of which were probably as old as the city itself.
“I don’t think so, Tyne,” he said quietly.
“There are other areas,” she said stiffly, “if you dislike this one so
much.”
He turned to look at her. His tone soft and pleading, he said,
“Please, darling, let’s not argue about it tonight. We’ll talk some other
time. In the meantime, give some serious thought to moving in
with my parents soon.”
Tyne had her hand on the door handle. “I don’t think so,” she said
coldly, echoing his words of a moment before. Before he could move,
she opened the door and jumped out of the car, then fled across the
street to the apartment she gladly shared with Moe.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763068

Constantine Cavafy

On By vequinoxIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Orofernis
He who is handsome, and his delicate
face is smiling on the four-drachma coin,
is Orofernis, son of Ariarathis.
As a child, they ousted him from Cappadocia,
out of his father’s magnificent palace
and sent him to grow up
in Ionia, to be forgotten among strangers.
Oh, those beautiful Ionian nights
when fearlessly, and clearly in a Hellenic way,
he got to know the fullness of carnal pleasure.
In his heart, always an Asian.
But in his manners and in his speech, Greek,
dressed up in turquoise, in a Greek chiton
his body fragrant with jasmine,
among the handsome Ionian youths,
the most handsome, the most ideal.
Later, when the Syrians entered
Cappadocia, and made him a king,
he dedicated himself and his monarchy
to enjoy a new pleasure every day,
to greedily gather gold and silver,
and to delight, and to boast,
watching his riches piling and shining.
As for the care of the place, and governing,
he had no idea what was happening around him.
The Cappadocians quickly removed him.
And he ended up in Syria, in the palace
of Demetrios, where he lazed around partying.
One day, though, his great idleness was
interrupted by unusual thoughts.
He remembered that from his mother, Antiochida
and from the old Stratoniki,
he was connected to the crown
of Syria, almost a Seleucid.
For a while, he got out of the lust and drunkenness,
and ineptly, and half dazed
he felt a longing to scheme something,
to do something, to plan something,
but he failed miserably and got worn out.
His end was written somewhere, but got lost,
or perhaps history passed it by,
and rightfully so, not bothering
to record such a paltry event.
He who on the four-drachma coin
left the charm of his beautiful youth,
the light of his youthful beauty,
an aesthetic memory of that Ionian boy,
is Orofernis, son of Ariarathis.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763823

Chthonian Bodies

On By vequinoxIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Hyperion
Coastal red cedars and
heightened sequoias
hyperboles of nature
scholastic and ambiguous
in their format, antithetic and
polysyllabic in their need
to procreate seeds and buds
growing rhythm in the sea’s
glaucous reflection, lean on it
sweet redwood by the shore
these lands where the sun
basks in aloneness
Hyperion one day you will become

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763424

Second Advent of Zeus

On By vequinoxIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Artemis
Artemis graced me with abundant verdure
the days when
I celebrated glorious, free
ancient spring charms
ravines with oleanders
deep chasms filled with
the song of Eros
a meaning as easy to decipher
as kissing the soft mound
of a woman
time of the vernal equinox
truth, no less important than
my sexual arousal
deep in moist caves
where my mind always ran
what I always wanted
innocent shivering lip
of the virgin just before a kiss
like the other side of the sky
where something hides
as close as in my soul
like a wishing fountain full of coins
dreams that appeared before
the end of a day’s toil
another martyr
another sacrifice
another blessing

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763912

The Gospel of Silence

On By vequinoxIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Excerpt

…unimaginable—slipped like a cold draft between the ancient walls,
disturbing the settled kingdom of silence scented with incense, centuries-
old furniture, glue and leather-bound books, and reached us,
first-year theology students, whom the authorities had ordered—for
the first time in the country’s history—to report for shortened military
service. Standing there, looking at one another in confusion,
with bitterness thickening inside us, we felt that a new will, a new
blind and impersonal force, was sliding into our lives.
We packed. Then each of us set out for home by bus, train, whatever
he could find, so that the next day he could report to the draft
board corresponding to his place of residence. There we underwent
the examinations. Naked, we had to stand before the officers seated
at a long table and the military doctor, who declared every recruit
fit for service. Afterwards, hundreds of young men lined up in the
courtyard, waiting for their names to be called and for the slip of paper
to be placed into their hands, before setting off toward the station
with their wooden suitcases under the supervision of a corporal.
I was sent to Sfântu Gheorghe. The barracks we entered resembled
nothing I had known before. There was no sense of home within
it, but neither was there outright cruelty—something even worse
filled the place: walls built out of a peculiar indifference, a world in
which suffering was not punishment, but a natural condition.
The company assembled from Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant
seminarians seemed like some grotesque metaphor, as though the
many stories, ideas and hopes hidden behind different religions had
all been stripped bare at once, only to freeze together into a single
common experience: subjugation.
Among the officers there were some who treated the whole thing
as an amusing game; for others it seemed almost a ceremonial duty
to show us—those who spoke about God, prayed to Him, followed
His commandments—what it was like when not heaven commanded,
but they did. And we, who until then had believed the suffering
of the body to be only temporary, now discovered that the suffering
of the soul was far slower, far more insidious and enduring.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763874

Neo-Hellene Poets: An Anthology of Modern Greek Poetry

On By vequinoxIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

At this Time

This time, like no other, I think of you
lonely soul, stranger passerby.
Friends and lovers were around you (am I right
or your eyes were saddened?)

Not even one lover or a friend
who in an hour such as this hour
would shake your hand. (Can I protect
your legacy from the false fame?)

No one stood close to you, no one was there
even one you might dare call your friend
your Fate’s provocation, your shriek
in the silent loneliness that scares you.

Hideously alone, with the chiton
of your dream permanently ripped
you marched to a famous country
that vanished in the deep heart of infinity

https://draft2digital.com/book/3562959

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

The Unquiet Land

On By vequinoxIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Excerpt

“It may arrive in time for Christmas. Santa Claus will bring it to you.” Caitlin straightened her body in the bed.
Michael pulled back the clothes and looked at her almost flat stomach. “You can’t see anything yet.”
“Not for a while,” Caitlin said, straining her eyes and neck to look at her belly. “But it’s there all right. I’ve been awfully sick, Michael.”
Michael kissed her and softly, almost reverently, caressed her stomach. “I can hardly believe it. Isn’t it strange, Caitlin? We’ve been making love for five or six years and once we decide to get married you become pregnant.”
“That should make you happy and more at ease,” Caitlin said.
“Why?” Michael asked.
“It’s a good sign. It’s a gift from God to let us know there’s no curse on our marriage. It’s been blessed in heaven.”
“That’s nice,” Michael said.
Caitlin held up her arms. Michael lowered his head to her breast, and she clasped him round the neck. “I love you, Michael,” she murmured between kisses. “I love you so very, very much.”
She stroked his back and buttocks as he lay half across her with his chin on her shoulder and his cheek held tightly to hers. “What’s wrong, Michael? Don’t you want to? On our wedding night?”
Michael did not move. His voice came muffled from the pillow: “I can’t.”
“Why?” Caitlin asked.
“I don’t know,” he replied helplessly. “It’s just that … Well, I keep thinking there’s a baby in there. My son. Perhaps even a daughter. A little living thing.”
“But it’s been there for weeks now,” Caitlin argued.
“Yes, but now I know it’s there. That makes a difference.”
“No it doesn’t. Or it shouldn’t.” Caitlin smiled. “But it’s perfectly all right, Michael. It can’t come to any harm. It’s protected like a seed in an apple.”
“But it’s not a seed in an apple; it’s a live human being with eyes and hands and heart and brain.”
“Michael, don’t be silly. Come on. It’s all right, I tell you. Make love to me, tonight above all nights.”
“It wouldn’t work, Caitlin. I just can’t do it.”
Caitlin lay still in disappointment. Then she smiled and stroked Michael’s back. “Don’t worry, Michael. It’s all right. I won’t force you.”
Michael rolled over on to his back.

https://draft2digital.com/book/3562888

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763203

Swamped

On By vequinoxIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Excerpt

Eteocles’s pocket is full of stones and on his back he carries a
hunter’s bag with food for later. Anthony carries an empty hunter’s
bag for what they might get today. In ten minutes they are away from
the houses and under the protection of the olive trees. Here the
morning sounds are different: muffled echoes from the rustle of the
breeze in the tree branches and cries of the occasional startled bird
as it flies from the trees or the osier bushes they pass here and there.
The morning star is slowly fading and the first rays of sunlight are
not far off now.
Irma plunges into the thickets of osiers or bunches of cane fields
trying to spring a rabbit from these property dividers that make a
good hiding place for rabbits. Anthony loads his shotgun and nods
to Eteocles to be vigilant and to watch the dog closely. They both
know that, when Irma gets agitated and wags her tail, these are the
signs that a rabbit is close. Eteocles stops and Anthony moves forward
ten steps, enough to give him the openness of the field in case he has
to shoot.
A few minutes later Irma begins wagging her tail excitedly. Anthony
encourages her with a familiar call, “Eheheheheh…Irma…”
and the eager dog intensifies her search around an osier bush when,
suddenly, a rabbit is spooked and dashes out of the bush to Anthony’s
left. He follows the animal for a second or two with the barrel of the
gun and then fires. The rabbit seems to jump in the air before falling
on the ground dead. A delighted Irma runs and grabs the animal in
her jaws, then brings it back to her master and proudly stands in front
of him with the limp body in her teeth. Anthony takes the rabbit out
of the dog’s mouth and weighs it in his hand. It’s still small, a yearling,
but a good start to the day nevertheless.
They already have their first catch and it isn’t even full daylight
yet. Excited with this early success, they carry on walking among the
olive trees. the light rustle of the leaves and the chirping of the awakening
birds create a natural symphony conducted by an invisible
maestro. Eteocles tunes his ears to the avian arias, eager to identify
one close enough to try a shot.

https://draft2digital.com/book/3562976

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

Wheat Ears

On By vequinoxIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Confession
My confession was simple:
Father, I said, I’ve sinned
guilt of the universe sits
heavy on my chest
forgive me that
I passionately loved
the bloomed hyacinth and
the flight swings of swallows
yet my greatest sins
my unmeasured love
for the child’s laughter
and for the beggars standing
with extended hands
filled with good wishes.
My confession was simple:
Father, I said, I’ve sinned
Straight to the Purgatory
the priest opined

https://draft2digital.com/book/3748127#print

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BKHW4B4S

Yannis Ritsos – Poems, Volume VII

On By vequinoxIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Hour of the Shepherds

(Perhaps we, hidden as we were, looked to find our
bearings: the direction of where behind the mountains
behind the clouds was George’s sheepfold surrounded
by tree branches, and George, so young, surrounded by
a great circular loneliness. Would his hands remain
as strong, as unquestioned during such a rain?)
The last flies swirled around the rooms, as if drugged
almost dead
like tiny inkwells full of black ink that fell off the shelf
of a childish disease;
a passing troupe performed in
the big café of the upper neighbourhood; the troupe also
included two midgets. Children had great fun; they
felt that they had suddenly grown; they could now
look deep in the water well or to climb up to the attic
and scare away the small geckos and cockroaches.
Ribbons, tied on the hair of the girls, became alive,
pinned the hair behind the ears of the girls, their necks
leaving their faces clear, powerful like steel (those kids
of another era, of the upper or the lower
neighbourhood?)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763947