Mar 19, 2010 – Peace Arch News

By Alex Browne

You sit on the marble steps staring as the pigeons fly at you like in sacred formation as if someone orders them to pattern like a crescent moon or a fresh oval bread loaf and you toss a few crumbs hoping that they stop and come like new hopes or as omen for fortune your father said birds landing on your shoulder taking food from your hand foretells long life and happiness

Rendition, the latest collection of poetry by Manolis Aligizakis, joins other tomes by this prolific Greek-Canadian poet and novelist (in 2009 alone, he published two collections: Impulses and Nuances). It’s obviously an advantage to be the owner of your own publishing house – Libros Libertad, which turns out a stunningly regular series of releases by authors both local and more far afield, is the South Surrey-based brainchild of Aligizakis. But he has no reason to apologize for the quality of his work. Manolis’ strongly imagistic, and sometimes deceptively simple, style is based on deep and profound musings on the human condition, amid a symbolic context of nature. Rendition is a provocative collection for lovers of poetry that joins Manolis’ other work in providing both quiet pleasures and unexpected epiphanies.