Poetry, Libros Libertad 2008
Paperback 9 x 6 in
107 pages
ISBN: 9780978186586
$9.95
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REVIEW

“Perhaps only a poet of Greek origin, who creates in the manner of his master Elytis could, using and renewing the conventions of Ode and Epode, Strophe and Antistrophe and an imagery that “unfolds like the fragrance of white hyacinths to the end of space” write a Eulogy to the loss of Logos.

In these poems the reader encounters the virginal and sculpted limbs of the Kore and her ethereal beauty embraced by the gross and murderous Troglodyte, imprisoned and abused by the organized religion, academic education and capitalistic greed. Here also is the young poet, her intended lover and here is creation as it was at the beginning, in the Middle Ages, and in our modern world.

Troglodytes has an overarching vision lyrically expressed of the history of man and the loss of that Greek ideal we no longer know how to translate and so we mumble platitudes about logics and the word of a single god that miss the mark.”

– Joanne Ford, author of Eros Operatica

 

With each poetry book Manolis gains different forms of expression and dynamism, which are qualities of a true artist. Troglodytes, his new collection of poems, reflects this evidence. His words, ripen by silence and a strong resonance from the Greek mythology, offer a myriad of images and senses that transport the reader to his world of wonder. At the same time they reveal the tics, beauty and contradictions of humanity, like a rain drop refreshes not only a rose on a hot summer day but also its thorns. The collection offers this simple and yet meaningful insight: Poetry is to be understood by its own diaphanous virtues and light in order to be a true mirror of the soul. That’s the message we get page by page in Troglodytes.

– Eduardo Bettencourt Pinto

 

Excerpt

SEPTENARY

I

Logos–

from the spiral void nascent

logos springs forth reflecting

unwrinkled soil’s lust for vapors and

alpha sun-drenched concept

 

logos’ arms unfold primal kore’s dream

transparent and unstained

a lake’s obsession for a moon

glimmering slopes second concept.

 

Logos–

dwells over the chaos

breeze hovering on the plains and

crudest earthly essence becomes

gamma benevolent concept;

 

logos with God in light of God

flame like a dancing serpent

mysterious shadows on a cave wall and

conscience concept the fourth.

 

Logos–

shoulders like an Atlas all

ephemeral only to emerge as His first thought:

a primeval in the entrance of the cave

an obscure shadow, the troglodyte

outlining a human and this hymn

the omega concept.

 

II

 

First subterranean impulse of light

and troglodyte’s eyes receive colors of stems

novice rivulets trickling the primal thought

to wondering seaweed, to blossoming rose

roots slowly stretching in the earth

 

eyes receive and appreciate the nurturing nature

living life to love

freeing freedom to create his path

toward irresistible Death

 

shredded light moves

through swirling vacuum

through the rock’s fissure

devout cyclamen

wit its purple garment, innocent smile

and he perceives justice

that he’ll uphold, impunity

beyond the merely beautiful

the diaphanous monarch flying

over meadow of the asphodels

 

he accepts cunning privilege

to create his inexorable path.