Νίκος Σπάνιας, Φέρτε μου μπόλικο χαρτί

Compromises

The barbwire, the stucco, the tumbled windows.
The woman yelled from the roof: “Katina, Katina”
The produce vendor scratches his balls.
They took five more men to the precinct.
They carried ten more to the cemetery.
They build two more new high rises.
The trees don’t understand anything, they look.
“One way or the other, we all die,” one said.
“It’s not the same” the other protested.
“A protest is also an excuse,” the first one said.

Then, suddenly, the wind perked up.
The paper napkins were blown off the restaurant table.
The servers looked from behind the doors.
“Aren’t they like birds?” and he showed the napkins.
The first man accepted the compromise. He stopped talking.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763726

Μαρία Λατσάρη, Δύο ποιήματα για τα Τέμπη

The Surprising Origins of ‘Thoughtcrime’

Κυκλοφορεί: Γιώργος Πρεβεδουράκης, Δίστομο

«Αποτυπώματα» του Lance Henson – «Impronte» di Lance Henson

To the End

You say these words to other people, hide them,

they will unhang your picture

from the wall of the night school

(The one the sun shone on some spring mornings

the glass was shining, you noticed it once,

it didn’t resemble you, but you liked it)

therefore, hide them, I tell you, they will unhang it

and not even the lone nail won’t be left on the wall

freeing the space of emptiness

they will hang a different picture, someone else’s,

more subservient, more innocent, more conniving,

perhaps the picture of a man, I mean,

surely, the picture of a man more than a man.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763726

(Excerpt)

Ken Sr. delivered all three gifts. On the morning of Ken’s birthday, the

two went to Buckingham Place and there, behind the locked and guarded

gates were the Spitfire. As they approached, the gates opened, and they were

escorted directly to the airplane. A stocky man wearing a long, dark navy

blue coat and smoking a fat cigar was waiting for them.

“Master Kirkby, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said. “I hear you would

like to see this Spitfire.” Then he lifted the young boy and placed him

on the wing. An officer helped him into the pilot’s seat.

Ken was in heaven. For a few brief moments, he was a pilot, pushing

the buttons, twisting the knobs, imagining soaring through layers of

white clouds, into an ocean of blue sky.

An Air Force officer lifted him back down to the ground and the man

with the cigar said, “I gather this is your fifth birthday. I have a present

for you.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out an American five-dollar bill.

“I should like you to have this,” he said. “I won it from a man you will hear

about. His name is President Roosevelt – so this is a very good, lucky

five-dollar bill.”

Then he patted him on the head and before turning on his heel, said,

“I have no doubt things will be interesting for you in your life, young fellow.

Good-bye.”

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0981073573

Τάσος Κόρφης, Των μοναχικών ποιητών

Hermann Hesse – Αυτό που πρέπει ν’ αλλάξεις είναι ο εαυτός σου