‘Manolis’ poems and Ken Kirkby’s paintings uncover deep values and symbols from within the remote and breathtaking Arctic landscape.’

– Apryl Leaf

 

Poetry, Libros Libertad 2010
Paperback 9 x 6 in
140 pages
ISBN: 9781926763033
$28.00
Buy Online
Libros Bestseller

Poet cries out to painter, craft me an eloquent verse with charmed couplets rhyming emotion and the painter replies, poet, paint me a joyful canvas splashing beauty on in layers And when they sweated they wiped each others’ brow and when they tired they steadied each others’ arm until…

– Manolis

The making of paintings and the writing of poetry are solitary activities. They are the property of the senses and are often beyond reason’s frail reach.

I consider poetry the highest of the art forms, so it was with surprise and delight I learned that Manolis, an exceptionally fine poet, was interested in a collaboration of our efforts. The results are this beautiful book.

Like Manolis, I was not born in this country we now call Canada. I am an immigrant in a long line of immigrants reaching back over millennia to the first human beings who came to populate this continent.

I was drawn to this immense country of countless shape-shifting places, from the stories recounted by an old Portuguese whaler when I was a child. Over more than fifty years later, I am left with a sense of wonder and a profound gratitude for my good fortune to be part of this place.

The works in this book have been made from curiosity, desire and discipline. I hope they engage you as much as they have us who made them.

– Ken Kirkby, Canadian painter

Review

It seems to me that anyone reading Manolis’ new collection of poems, Vespers, might be immediately struck by the mutual staring that goes on between the poet and the immutable eye of God. For it is out of this radiant stream of sensations and deep tangle of truths, that Manolis has crafted images to rise like mercury through the ontological hollows of his existence. This effect is amplified further by his unique style in which associations are threaded in and out of primal depictions of landscapes that pulse and hum with the presence of something beyond human creation.

Manolis’ literary projections of form, syntax, and movement, are much like the complimentary canvases of Ken Kirby that accompany his poems; they merge in an almost liturgical celebration of the thing that is eternal in all of us and will no doubt survive all our struggles and efforts… and evening prayers. The artist and poet do not hide behind this wisdom, nor do they try to bargain it away from the barrenness and silence that confronts the individual who finds himself conscious in a world that has fallen out of its harness. Instead they labor successfully to evoke meaning and dynamism at the intersection of mystery and uncertainty.

The poems and images come as if from artists empowered to both weep and praise when the day’s journey is done. And that perhaps is at the core of this collection, an honesty and vulnerability from the heroic soul of a man who has entered the realm of nature expecting nothing less than to be welcomed right round the corner.

– Ilya Tourtidis, poet

Praise

Vespers is a stunning collection that takes one away from the warmth and comfort of domestic life and throws one into the Canadian wilderness. Ken Kirby’s paintings offer the perfect compliment to Manolis’ words. Together they have created an artistic gift that allows the reader to experience the vastness of this country. The harshness of the Canadian north is juxtaposed with the raw beauty that exists in that space, where linear time is forgotten and circle of nature rules. This is truly a beautiful collection that weaves together the visual and poetic to tell the story of the emotional extremes of life in the far north.

~Cathi Shaw, poet

Vespers honors the people of the Far North and their harsh yet inherently poetic and colorful surroundings.

Manolis’ poems and Ken Kirkby’s paintings uncover deep values and symbols from within the remote and breathtaking Arctic landscape. They render intimate scenes that appear at the same time starkly apparent and profoundly layered.

The exquisite techniques of both poet and artist help project their inspiration: the pristine and wild esthetic, while illuminating the cultural experience in its essence. ”

– Apryl Leaf, poet

 

Excerpt

Red Skies

Elongated shadow of foreground
lacking luster on its base
boulder's right arm

extended, balancing left's
faint smile on imaginary
red sky lips define

dusk and hopes for
a sailor's delight
a seal's head silhouette

in the surface of translucent
water silent and flat
desolate, forlorn peace

in a sailor's mind and heart
in the Inukshuk's arms
bearing promises           

Heron

The riverbank salutes his
eyes observing life like
passionate current's fro

whirlpool over rocky dip
another turn and the log
will be claimed at dusk

or while blue ray vanishes
standing as if on mosaic
staring at its miracle and fishes

having the time of his life
taking what is required
leaves the rest for another

day, leaving tomorrow's
nourishment for its turn
no need for hording