English
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"Before the Silence"
Archival News Reports of the Christian Holocaust that Begs to be Remembered
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Authors
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24 grammata
- ΧΡΟΝΙΑ ΠΟΛΛΑ στη Μητέρα
Saturation
N.N. Trakakis
The sky and its thousand stars
stare back in sadness
as do I
in the pre-dawn hours
resigning the world
without sleep
that better it might be regained
Continue reading
The Armenian Mother
Lawrence Darrell
The earthquake struck Armenia quickly
And spread its devastation swiftly;
From its innards the earth rumbled
Then its outer surface crumbled
And everything standing on it tumbled.
Shocked and stunned, the Armenians ran,
Fearful and tearful and shattered,
As the ground sputtered and shuddered-
The horror and terror in their voices
Echoing nature’s destructive noises.
Duty
The Street That Was Not Named “Pasolini Street”
Manolis Aligizakis
Wide morning in Rome that widens the consonant l
amid the vendors yelling, the tires of buses
and the statues’ silence.
Ocher shadowed in the eastern facades
of stores and buildings. Doors and doors uphold
the semicircles of shadows at one time. Strange –
he said –
Continue reading
Vatican Museum
“Yannis Ritsos-Poems”
translation Manolis Aligizakis
da Vinci Raphael Michelangelo, – how they incised
the greatest skies in the human face, in the human body
toenails and fingernails, leaves and stars, nipples, dreams, lips, –
to red and the light blue the tangible and the inconceivable. Perhaps from
touching of these two fingers the world was reborn. The space
between these two fingers still measures accurately
the earth’s pull and duration.
Continue reading
Emotions
Swirling emotions, once a sea
of distinct black and white
feelings -
flow together into a gray,
misty sunset
One teardrop at a time
Continue reading
The Flame
Nature’s Caress
Guilt
Tasos Livaditis, ‘Diaspora’
Translation Manolis Aligizakis
Then, what they searched for, what was I guilty of, I, who’s
only crime was that I grew up always chased, where could
one find time, for this I stayed gullible and
I always hugged the cold railing of the bridge.
Continue reading
Night
Manolis Aligizakis
Translated from Tasos Livaditis’ “Diaspora”
There is a door in the night that only the blind see,
darkness makes the animals hear better,
and him, staggered, not from being drunk Continue reading
Signs of The Times
N.N. Trakakis
Translated from original by Tasos Leivaditis
And the episodes continued with minor variations, the epidemic advanced,
confused messages, we didn’t know who they had left out,
the saints in fear took refuge in the calendars, scarecrows no longer took off their hats
____when the trains passed by,
Continue reading
Artan
Loula S. Rodopoulos
‘We stink! Only hot water can wash the dirt off,’ Bekim says to Artan, dusting down his work clothes. Artan is sipping water from a communal tap outside the shower and toilet block in the park.
The park is situated on the highest point of the town overlooking the Corinthian Gulf. A multicoloured bed of roses lines one perimeter and tall conifers and fir trees are scattered over the grass. Asphalt paths, edged with wooden benches, lead to the ornamental iron gates located on each side of its four perimeters. A small bridge stretches across a lake hidden by pampas grass and shrubs. The townsfolk, who live in the surrounding high rise apartments, gather in the park to walk, talk and relax. The boys find an empty bench and Artan twists off the caps of two bottles of beer and offers one to Bekim. They take long gulps and wipe their mouths with the sleeves of their work clothes.
Creation
Tasos Livaditis, ‘Diaspora’
Translation Manolis Aligizakis
Creation
He would sit out in the fields and draw birds
on the soil. But the birds yearned for the sky. Then,
Continue reading
Secret Gate
Tasos Livaditis, ‘Diaspora’
Translation Manolis Aligizakis
Secret Gate
Wings stirred under the furniture and at the end of the hall
the dark mirror made the children often sick, because they
didn’t want to grow up,
Continue reading
On a Ray of Winter Light
~George Seferis,
Translation by Manolis Aligizakis
ΟΝ A RAY OF WINTER LIGHT
Some years ago you said
‘Basically I am a matter of light.’
And still today when you lean
on the wide shoulders of sleep
even when they anchor you
to the drowsy breast of pelagos
you search in corners where blackness
has turned thin with no resistance
Continue reading
Flowers of the rock before the green sea
Flowers of the rock before the green sea
with veins that reminded me of other loves
gleaming in the slow drizzle
flowers of the rock, faces
Continue reading
Summer Solstice
Manolis Aligizakis
Canada
Soft island hills
lapping on sea froth
cicadas fire up
their endless arias
come close to me, I beg you,
before me stand
like Hermes naked,
a graceful cypress
tο keep in my eyes for
the long winter days
when we shall be apart
moments I shall
yearn for your warmth.
Come close to me, I beg you
and let me touch your skin
the day fiery,
unbearable like
the body’s conflagration.
Καύσωνας
Λοφίσκοι ομαλοί νησιών,
που κολυμπούν στα κύματα,
αιώνεια και τραγουδούν,
σαν τα τζιτζίκια με τις άριές τους
έλα, έλα κοντά μου, σε παρακαλώ,
στάσου μπροστά μου
σαν Ερμής, γυμνός,
περήφανος σαν κυπαρίσι
να σε κρατήσω μές στα μάτια μου
για τις ατέλειωτες τις ώρες του χειμώνα,
όταν θα ζούμε χώρια,
στιγμές τη ζεστασιά σου
που θα λαχταρώ.
Έλα, έλα κοντά μου, σε εκλιπαρώ,
άσε με να σ’ αγγίξω,
καύσωνας τούτη η μέρα
κι είναι αβάσταχτη σαν
του κορμιού μου το καμίνι.
Μανώλης Αλυγιζάκης
Καναδάς
The birds and the bees
May we catch our breath for now
may we escape of dreams to distant shores,
let shaded laughs among our cries
and all our thoughts we let them find
what it is that they may seek
appearing oh so desperately meek?
Family Photograph
The photograph is black and white and was possibly taken about the year of 1900. It is a photograph of the nine children of the Wood family. My grandfather George was one of these children.
I feel a great attachment to the photograph. It is like looking at a still from a movie as I take a peek into the story of their lives. They are all dressed in high fashion of the day and are posed in the garden having a tea party.
Grace looks to be the eldest and sits at a small table with a cloth draped over it. She looks very poised with her eyes lowered to the teapot raised in her hand. She wears a beautiful wide brimmed hat, a sash around her waist and a dress high to the neck with puffed sleeves. Louie stands to the left of her facing the camera and holds a tray of sandwiches in her hands. She wears a similar dress but looks more severe in a black hat. They remind me of Russian Tsarinas. George sits on a cane chair to the left of her and side on to the camera. He is very suave and must be about twenty years old. He wears a boater straw hat jauntily on the back of his head showing off his thick black hair. He looks assured leaning back in his chair with his legs crossed, teacup in hand and neat black moustache. To the right of Grace stands Fred, Ida and May. Pretty young Ella sits in a chair smiling at the camera. A big thick sheepskin rug is in front of the table where the two younger children sit, Marie with a bonnet and Percy with a straw boater.
I have never met my Grandfather George, he died before I was born. I only have this family photograph and the stories my mother has told me about her father to imagine how he would have been. He died at the young age of thirty eight.
I think how important the photograph is to me to have captured that day when the family was gathered together, documented for me to see two generations later. I have been told the story of their lives and have that knowledge as I look at the photograph. It is as though I know more about what is to happen to them than they do. Even though I have never met anyone in the photo the connection is strong. Their blood runs in my veins.
Graciously they lived, each having their own story to tell, all caught in the history of time.
Tomorrow, perchance, a coin I’ll thrust
Loula S. Rodopoulos
Mismatched robes
in strategic pose
sculpted from birth
feigning hurt?
Lady, lady please
a drachma for a sandwich,Good Easter.
Infant nursed
empty purse
on carpeted display
destitute path convey.
God bless you lady
a drachma for her milk,Good Easter. Continue reading
For a Woman
Τάσος Λειβαδίτης, Εκλεγμένα ποιήματα,
μετάφραση Μανώλη Αλυγιζάκη
Tassos Livaditis, Selected Poems,
translated by Manolis Aligizakis
Soft island hills
lapping on sea froth
cicadas fire up
their endless arias
come close to me, I beg you,
before me stand
like Hermes naked,
a graceful cypress
tο keep in my eyes for
the long winter days
when we shall be apart
moments I shall
yearn for your warmth.
Come close to me, I beg you
and let me touch your skin
the day fiery,
unbearable like
the body’s conflagration.
Καύσωνας
Λοφίσκοι ομαλοί νησιών,
που κολυμπούν στα κύματα,
αιώνεια και τραγουδούν,
σαν τα τζιτζίκια με τις άριές τους
έλα, έλα κοντά μου, σε παρακαλώ,
στάσου μπροστά μου
σαν Ερμής, γυμνός,
περήφανος σαν κυπαρίσι
να σε κρατήσω μές στα μάτια μου
για τις ατέλειωτες τις ώρες του χειμώνα,
όταν θα ζούμε χώρια,
στιγμές τη ζεστασιά σου
που θα λαχταρώ.
Έλα, έλα κοντά μου, σε εκλιπαρώ,
άσε με να σ’ αγγίξω,
καύσωνας τούτη η μέρα
κι είναι αβάσταχτη σαν
του κορμιού μου το καμίνι.
Μανώλης Αλυγιζάκης
Καναδάς
For a Woman
Do you remember the nights? To make you laugh I’d walk
over the glass of the night lamp.
“How was it possible?” You asked.
Pigsty
Τάσος Λειβαδίτης, Εκλεγμένα ποιήματα,
μετάφραση Μανώλη Αλυγιζάκη
Tassos Livaditis, Selected Poems,
translated by Manolis Aligizakis
Καύσωνας
Λοφίσκοι ομαλοί νησιών,
που κολυμπούν στα κύματα,
αιώνεια και τραγουδούν,
σαν τα τζιτζίκια με τις άριές τους
έλα, έλα κοντά μου, σε παρακαλώ,
στάσου μπροστά μου
σαν Ερμής, γυμνός,
περήφανος σαν κυπαρίσι
να σε κρατήσω μές στα μάτια μου
για τις ατέλειωτες τις ώρες του χειμώνα,
όταν θα ζούμε χώρια,
στιγμές τη ζεστασιά σου
που θα λαχταρώ.
Έλα, έλα κοντά μου, σε εκλιπαρώ,
άσε με να σ’ αγγίξω,
καύσωνας τούτη η μέρα
κι είναι αβάσταχτη σαν
του κορμιού μου το καμίνι.
Μανώλης Αλυγιζάκης
Καναδάς
Pigsty
Things had changed, these days they don’t kill, they only
point at you with the finger, it’s enough. Then, they make
a circle that always becomes smaller, they slowly get closer,
you retreat, back against the wall, until in desperation, you,
Continue reading
Healthy Explanations
By Dr Dimitri Karalis
(Message for doctors and patients)
The father of medicine, Hippocrates, set primarily in each new doctor a definition along with the standard oath, that: “You cannot be good a doctor without being a philosopher at the same time.” We know that the philosopher besides the reflective, observant and intellectual learning is also a strict naturalist, which rightly so that the ancient Greeks used to call them Iatrophilosophers.
For this reason I would like to expand a bit on this definition for the ordinary person with a slight variation: “You can never be cured completely by a physician when he is unable to explain to you in simple language, the cause of your illness.”
Simple Words
Τάσος Λειβαδίτης, Εκλεγμένα ποιήματα,
μετάφραση Μανώλη Αλυγιζάκη
Tassos Livaditis, Selected Poems,
translated by Manolis Aligizakis
Καύσωνας
Λοφίσκοι ομαλοί νησιών,
που κολυμπούν στα κύματα,
αιώνεια και τραγουδούν,
σαν τα τζιτζίκια με τις άριές τους
έλα, έλα κοντά μου, σε παρακαλώ,
στάσου μπροστά μου
σαν Ερμής, γυμνός,
περήφανος σαν κυπαρίσι
να σε κρατήσω μές στα μάτια μου
για τις ατέλειωτες τις ώρες του χειμώνα,
όταν θα ζούμε χώρια,
στιγμές τη ζεστασιά σου
που θα λαχταρώ.
Έλα, έλα κοντά μου, σε εκλιπαρώ,
άσε με να σ’ αγγίξω,
καύσωνας τούτη η μέρα
κι είναι αβάσταχτη σαν
του κορμιού μου το καμίνι.
Μανώλης Αλυγιζάκης
Καναδάς
Simple Words
The night almost same as all others: tediousness,
the faint light, lost paths
and suddenly someone says “I’m poor”, as though giving you
Continue reading
The Defeated
Τάσος Λειβαδίτης, Εκλεγμένα ποιήματα,
μετάφραση Μανώλη Αλυγιζάκη
Tassos Livaditis, Selected Poems,
translated by Manolis Aligizakis
Καύσωνας
Λοφίσκοι ομαλοί νησιών,
που κολυμπούν στα κύματα,
αιώνεια και τραγουδούν,
σαν τα τζιτζίκια με τις άριές τους
έλα, έλα κοντά μου, σε παρακαλώ,
στάσου μπροστά μου
σαν Ερμής, γυμνός,
περήφανος σαν κυπαρίσι
να σε κρατήσω μές στα μάτια μου
για τις ατέλειωτες τις ώρες του χειμώνα,
όταν θα ζούμε χώρια,
στιγμές τη ζεστασιά σου
που θα λαχταρώ.
Έλα, έλα κοντά μου, σε εκλιπαρώ,
άσε με να σ’ αγγίξω,
καύσωνας τούτη η μέρα
κι είναι αβάσταχτη σαν
του κορμιού μου το καμίνι.
Μανώλης Αλυγιζάκης
Καναδάς
The Defeated
He kneeled and laid his forehead on the floor. It was
the difficult time. When he got up, his embarrassed face,
that we all knew, had stayed there, on the planks, like
a useless upside helmet.
Continue reading
Parthenon Marbles
unearthed
Athens, 2001
4
I stand on waves
of earth – χωμα
nurtured by blood-
-and-bone
of my ancestors
Continue reading
My Sun
to look at water
to look at water
__when I open ( up ) my heart
____~ is to fill it
______with the stillness Continue reading
