THE GATE
Excerpt LVII
It is difficult, of course, to talk of things while they
occur, old men
waited to read what they had seen with their own
eyes in tomorrow’s newspapers; they didn’t know
which version was the most accurate. I waited to
find them inverted inside of me; the others were in
a hurry because of me. I thought they were right.
I had spread the wet sackcloth over three chairs,
one on top of the other,
so the clay statue was visibly ready. I had placed
the metal measuring tape, the trowel, the gobbet
on the floor.
The clay, he kept on saying, the clay, the clay.
He kneed it with his fists trying to mould statues
and real bread to feed the hungry.
Clay is my material, he said, clay isn’t eaten; so
alone.
THE GATE
Excerpt LVI
Yes, it’s me, he said again; the caretaker lowered
his eyes.
I, alone, shine my shoes, and my fingers get black or
brown from the polish, my face isn’t justified
or I talk to the retired civil servant
or to the traffic cop or the textile weaver
I search for the inexistent address; I insist it exists
in the poleodomic city plans, I transcribe new streets
the university students pass with flags and a cone
full of garbanzo beans
the clerk of the store moves his hands behind the five
display window dolls,
he places a silver flower on the hair of the middle
doll
uncle Stathis wipes his eyes with his fist
the crazy man takes out of his pocket birds and trains
two stork nests along with the chimney
six crafts with almonds and guitars. It was twilight
and a star behind the mountain waited for us to
gaze at it.
https://www.lulu.com/account/projects/w454dzp https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CGX139M6
Epode
We the leaders and the followers
the blind killers and the blind victims
I the atheist and the pious
the filthy rich and the despondent
We the egotistical and the humble
the allies and the enemies
I the knowledge and the ignorance
the palatial and the squalor
We the dreamers and the dreamless
the forever roamers and the domesticated
I the important consonant and the vowel
the wide ocean and the secluded cove
We the princes and the beggars
the bigots and the altruists
I the hero and the traitor
the serpent and the eagle
We the sheep and the lions
the socialites and the hermits
I the free-spirited and the fanatic
the man erectus and the worm
We the anthropocentric and the anthropoid
the autocratic and the marionettes
I am the child of God and the Devil’s cousin
the arduous worker and the tedious
We the initiates and the initiated
the ropewalkers and the Übermenschen
Manolis Aligizakis 