Beneath the bougainvillea's arid brilliance
a sombre note, half-muted by the brashness
of the tourist age: I catch its rage
in bronzes of anonymous boy-martyrs
in city squares, padlocked mosques
and monuments of conquerors defaced.
Old Larnaka conceals its pain
in fragrant courtyards steeped in shade,
the wrinkled face that shuns the public gaze.
The salamander knows that life
is shadows racing over stone; he knows
that blood and jasmine leave no trace.
Salamander, Larnaka
© Copyright: Jena Woodhouse, 2003
Свидетельство о публикации №103022200261
Свидетельство о публикации №103022200261
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Жень, привет! I'm so excited to read you again. Your work has impressed me greatly and reminded a little of Joseph Brodsky's Mexican diaries.
Do you remember - И ящерица на валуне, задрав головку, будет наблюдать полет космического аппарата...
Cаша
As regards Crete, very soon I will send you our photos (including meeting with Papaderos). By the way, you can see one of them at the poetry page of CHANIOTIS at стихира. We studied together at Moscow University of foreign relations and learned Greek. He was with us almost all time while our stay in Crete.
Александр Рытов 10.09.2003 15:16 • Заявить о нарушении
Do you remember - И ящерица на валуне, задрав головку, будет наблюдать полет космического аппарата...
Cаша
As regards Crete, very soon I will send you our photos (including meeting with Papaderos). By the way, you can see one of them at the poetry page of CHANIOTIS at стихира. We studied together at Moscow University of foreign relations and learned Greek. He was with us almost all time while our stay in Crete.
Александр Рытов 10.09.2003 15:16 • Заявить о нарушении
Саша - Хаиро поли! The photograph (CHANIOTIS) is stunning. The combination of the vertical and horizontal, mountains and sea, in the Aegean landscape never fails to move me. I've never heard my work mentioned in the same breath as Brodsky's, even tangentially, and I'm ashamed to confess I haven't read his Mexican diaries, but you've whetted my appetite, and the university library is only ten minutes walk away, so I'll make amends. I love reading both your poetry and that of Chaniotis, so that is another pleasure in store. There has been little time for reading just recently, as I've been revising a big fiction manuscript I worked on in Greece (though not about Greece), and I've really missed the poetry.
Lovely to hear from you, Саша!
Харика поли! Jena
Jena Woodhouse 11.09.2003 14:22 Заявить о нарушении
Lovely to hear from you, Саша!
Харика поли! Jena
Jena Woodhouse 11.09.2003 14:22 Заявить о нарушении