Month: July 2025

Savages and Beasts

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Excerpt

One can see it on their faces and in the way they behave; look at
them; I don’t see happy children who play during the recess, au
contraire, I see frightened children, you can see fear in their eyes.”
Mary nodded her head without saying any words. Then
her glance fell on Sister Gladys who was walking towards them;
Mary upon seeing the austere glance of Sister Gladys, tried, quite
unsuccessfully indeed, to distance herself from Anton. However
before Sister Gladys was close enough to listen to their voices,
Mary said to Anton, “We’ll talk again, ok?” to which Anton said,
“yes, most certainly.”
“Well, well, how’s the conversation going?” Sister Gladys
asked them in a scornful way.
Mary kept silent.
“It’s going very well Sister Gladys and how’s your morning?”
Anton asked.
“It’s going well, thank you Mr. Jonas. Anything I should
know?” She insisted.
“No, nothing at all, Sister” Anton replied.
At that moment Father Thomas neared them too and
seeing them all together he fancied it was funny, because he said
scornfully, “Here we have a quorum, I see, should I call the meeting
to order?”
Soon as Father Thomas’ last words were said, Mary said
she had work to do and walked away. Sister Gladys looked at
Anton whose eyes followed Mary’s behind until she went through
the main entrance of the school.
“Mr. Jonas, tell me, how you find your work here at the
Residential School?”
“I’m very pleased with my work, Sister Gladys,” he replied,
“I hope my work is satisfactory to you and all others.”

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763602

George Seferis-Collected Poems

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I


The angel,
we had waited for him for three years, concentrated
closely examining
the pines, the seashore, the stars.
Joining the blade of the plough or the ships keel
we searched to discover once more the first sperm,
so that the ancient drama might recommence.
We went back to our homes broken hearted
with incapable limbs, with mouths ravaged
by the taste of rust and salinity.
When we woke, we traveled to the north, strangers
driven into the mist by the perfect wings
of swans that wounded us.
During winter nights the strong eastern wind
maddened us
in the summers we got lost in the agony of day
that couldn’t die.
We brought back
these petroglyphs of a humble art.

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

Opera Bufa

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Fourth Canto
I stitch a leather latch on my door
keeping its serenity from copious
staggering fools laughing
as the ancient lascivious torch is lit
in the bowels of earth and
a battle of Giants reverberates
from one corner to another
their God with stamina
of youth fights old cunning Death
over the meaning of a life or
stigma the result being
leaves of grass stiffen against
the north wind and unfold their
satisfaction in sunshine’s arms
yet black velvet of
a hungry phallus climbs from
his subterranean realm to add
a laughing giggle to the lips of
day and turn ever-prosperous
fears to maverick months without
songs eluding to the graveness of this
absurdity and soil negates its
passive resolve to non-involvement
with opera music and spirited
fervor of lovemaking shredding even
the stiffest veil of darkness when
lips of the old woman with the
ironed breast lisps the strange
question and limp penis of
the old man ogling the moon
answers: I can do better

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763092

Still Waters

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Excerpt

Sudden anger welled up in Tyne. Her face burned and her heart
pounded. She struggled to keep her voice under control.
Summoning all her reserve, she said in as pleasant a tone as she
could muster. “Mrs. Tournquist, it’s so nice of you to invite me, but I
am going home. Dad must have made a mistake.” A big mistake, Dad,
a very big mistake this time.
“Oh.” Mrs. Tournquist’s disappointment was as obvious as if Tyne
had seen it written on her face. “Well, I’m pleased you’re able to get
home, of course. But if there is any time during the holidays that
you’re free, please let us know.”
“I will, Mrs. Tournquist, and thank you. Thank you very much.”
She banged the receiver into its cradle and flew down the corridor.
Moe looked up quickly when Tyne shot into the room. “What ….”
Tyne grabbed her wallet off the desk and rummaged in the change
purse. “Do you have any change for the phone, Moe? I have to make
a call.”
Moe stood up and reached for her handbag on the desk. “Why?
What happened? What’s wrong? Who’re you calling?”
Tyne turned to smile at her roommate. She felt light-headed. “I’m
calling Morley to tell him I’m coming home for Christmas.”

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

Kariotakis-Polydouri, The Tragic Love Story

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Forgetfullness
With my loving heart I got to know you, wild forest.
I drank your secret fragrance in the kiss of the wind.
I waited to pass through you in the moonlit night
when the airy ghost went through your branches.
I got to know you during my erotic nights, wrinkled
sea as if the forehead of contemplation, my thought
went over you like a caress and your bloomed edge
with the fragrant seaweed would always invite me.
My erotic nights got to know you my beautiful flowers
diaphanous, shaded, colorful like lighted signs.
The heavy dew, a kiss and golden fluff
appeared on your eyelids tightly shut in darkness.
Now, bestowed onto the light of denial and altered,
you show me that I may lose my mind’s path.
Are you truly what I knew well? My beloved
flowers, the silvery sea, thick forest full of pines?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763459

Red in Black

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Limits
Momentary hesitation, shyness
star hides behind the cloud
now you see me, now you don’t
hide and seek, smile, uncertainty
shining star reappeared
to light my eyes
waning time conspires
with the clock that stops
momentary greatness
that will last forever
in the eyes of my soul
and the wind stops blowing
to admire, like I do,
your ethereal exaggeration
on the other side of the planet
body that defines the limits of my joy

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

The Circle

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Excerpt

Could she be cheating on him? Matthew has been married for a long time; he’s a
fifty-five-year-old established bureaucrat. Why suddenly does he have all this
anxiety about his wife being unfaithful?
He turns on his other side and crawls under the sheets. He changes the TV
channel and slowly his eyes grow tired. He feels all the emptiness in his stomach
and in his heart. Then his worrisome mind slows down and he falls asleep.
“What did Dad have to say, Mom?” Jennifer asks.
“Nothing important, honey, the same old story.”
“Is he coming home on the weekend? I heard you telling him Hakim has
gone to New York. Did he say anything about that?”
“No honey, nothing. He says he’ll be home on the weekend.”
Jennifer goes upstairs to her room and Emily pours herself a drink.

Wednesday morning in New York and the sky is clear. A tired city awakens from
a last night of excitement and partying. New York is a city that never sleeps, like
Las Vegas. New York has the reputation as being the best entertainment city in
North America, although the big corporations running the Las Vegas casinos
like to think their city is the best in that department.
Hakim is up. He gazes at the view of the waterway. Far to his right he can see
the boats as well as cars in the streets. He has been up for a while when Ibrahim
comes into his room, prepared for the day.
“Good morning, my uncle.”
“Good morning, my dear son.”
Ibrahim calls Rassan to order their breakfast. While they wait Ibrahim calls
his lawyer, William Polson.
He speaks to the receptionist, “Good morning, this is Ibrahim Mahdi. I amin
New York and I would like to talk to William.”
It takes a few moments before a person answers.
“Good morning, Ibrahim, how are you? Welcome to New York. Where are
you staying?”
“Good morning, William. I am at the Manhattan Sheraton as always. I want
you to get Bill Wanton and Regis Hudson and come over for an hour, some time
after eleven. I need you all for an hour or so. Get Regis and Bill to bring along the
necessary forms for new accounts. You also need to prepare a power of attorney
and bring it along.”
“That sounds good, Ibrahim; I’ll put everything together. I’ll confirm our
timing within half an hour.”

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0978186524

Ken Kirkby, A Painter’s Quest for Canada

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Excerpt

The days and nights blended one into another, and long
periods of quiet contemplation were interspersed with intense bouts of
hunting. Ken learned to breathe differently. Taking in great gulps of the
frigid air would have burned his lungs, so he inhaled slowly and measurably
through his nostrils, calculating each breath.
One day another group of people arrived at their camp with several
dog teams. Among them was a boy in his early teens. He too had recently
come from a residential school and was sullen and spoke to no one.
The group brought word that the caribou had not come their way and
they were here to join Ken’s group and hopefully share in what they had.
Ken’s group agreed to travel together and to share their abundance. They
planned to move further east, to where they hoped to find enough seals
and walrus to provide meat for the long winter.
One day before setting out, the troubled youth was particularly disrespectful
to one of the elders and was quietly chastised. He walked away
from the camp and had gone only a short distance before several people
went in search of him. No one could survive long in this cold. The wind
began to howl picking up ice crystals and blowing them across the land
and the searchers hurried back to the tents. Within minutes the world
was white; taking even one step outside the tent was certain death.
They waited in silence and Ken found himself feeling both disconcerted
and exhilarated by their patience and lack of anxiety. He was unsettled
because he had lost all sense of reference and elated because each moment
was perfect. He was alive in the now and nothing else mattered. The
long hours of silence gave Ken only one point of focus – himself. He was
meeting himself for the first time and the self he was meeting was neither
good nor evil – he just was – and Ken embraced that self with his mind
and heart, quietly blessing every event that had led him on this journey
to this place.
The white storm lasted for several days and when it ended, the people
left their tents to resume the search. There was no sign of the dogs,
just small mounds of snow scattered around the tents. When the people
nudged the mounds, the dogs emerged from their igloos, shaking the
snow off and wagging their tails furiously. They untethered several of
them to assist in the search, and their acute sense of smell led them to
another mound of snow under which they found the frozen boy.
There was no crying or wailing. They wrapped him in caribou hide
and with great effort moved rocks, that the wind had swept bare, to form
an oval. Gently, they placed the boy in the oval, placing some of his possessions
with him. Then they walked away. They had eaten animals all
their lives; in death, they completed the circle and returned their bodies
to the beasts.

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

Medusa

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Defenders
They defended our freedom
The general said,
don’t you ever forget it
image siphoned down
into the psyche of the populace
making each citizen believe
In the justice of war
Details about profits and dividends
paid to shareholders
War Machine companies
defence contractors
flourishing in people’s death
never mentioned
they defended our freedom
The general said
Each sane man turned
into an insane, bloodthirsty animal

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763769

Yannis Ritsos – Poems, Volume V

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Kindness

We’ll return dressed in different clothes, having different

eyes and grey hair. We’ll look at the serene harbour,

the ropes, the masts, the shepherds’ star. We’ll talk as if

to console someone who is far away, someone who is

foreign to us as we see the fish wriggling in the net.

We’ll talk about the rosy reflections of the fish. With our hands

we’ll mimic its movements, nice movements, as we’ll talk

hastily, then silently, we’ll avoid looking at the broken oar

pushed in the sand, among the bones of Homeric horses

and the warped shoes of women.

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