a kind of clock
a world of poetry from Greek into English
Kostas Despiniadis, ‘Soft rain’ (2017)
Soft rain Chopin in the background her standing by the window idly moving her legs. Why should this simple bliss be so rare?
Mihalis Katsaros, ‘My Testament’ (1953)
Resist the one who builds a small home and says I’m happy here.
2018 Best Translated Book Award for poetry for Eleni Vakalo’s Before Lyricism by Karen Emmerich
“Before Lyricism is a captivating collection of poetry as well as an awe-inspiring feat of translation. Eleni Vakalo makes her readers hear and see the images written on the page; the book creates…
George Prevedourakis, Kleftiko, 2013
Aunt Haris Pattakos[1] is alive – Pattakos wakes up at a quarter to five at dawn – to swim and stretch – tonight he is giving a talk at Kalypso Hotel –…
Andreas Pagoulatos, Perama, 2006
in the inhospitable un geo metrical burning in its own scorching heat land
Elias Lagios, Erēmē Gē, 1984
In this wrecked hideout in the forgotten mountains Under an enraged moonlight, the People attend mass; Nameless they flare up like churches There is the thunder’s chapel, home of the resurrected. Human…
‘The Cleopatra, the Semiramis and the Theodora’ (1933) by Alexandros Baras
Once every week, on a given day, and always at the same hour, three handsome ships, the Cleopatra, the Semiramis, and the Theodora, leave their berth at nine o’clock for Piraeus always,…
‘Alekos Panagoulis: Bleeding poetry in an urban non-place [1971]’ by Kanelia Koutsandrea
Do not cry for me even though I die for help me you cannot Just take a look at that flower it withers away and for this I speak Water it. (‘Water…
‘Stripped Bare’ by Yannis Ritsos
The stove rusted. The pipes peel. The walls crack. In the painting a lone tree still green. You even sold your own wristwatch.
Three Long Poems in Athens: Erēmē Gē-Perama-Kleftiko (2018)
Athens is an emblematic city, a place of significance. It is memory embodied in a multi-layered topos, a place of ruins with the Parthenon as its headpiece. The routes one may follow…