Cloe and Alexandra

By Manolis

Alexandra's voice is thunderous like a bell at day break, crystal clear like a brilliant spring morning. At times black or white, definite, with declarations such as 'his erection hard as rock/concealed in his pants'. Other times she approaches the big game of 'Eros' exactly as that: a game with mutual contributions by the two involved where they both value their effort to free themselves from past prison cells, where most people reside, from 'yellow submarines' where most people dwell.

Cloe's voice is subdued almost unintended, implying almost insinuating, yet powerful like Alexander's sword that slashed the Gordian knot to pieces. She conceals the ultimate truth while with her simplicity she pierces the reader through and through. She approaches the subtle difference between the two sexes from the point of how they find their common ground through self-expression.

Both Cloe and Alexandra possess clarity in the development of their poems while they build anticipation with so much unsaid though expected and they present their characters as subtle and allusive yet at the same time as tragically obvious as they are. Both being familiar with the Greek environment where light is the most important medium, the best cleansing mechanism both poetesses quite comfortably endure the weight of the ancient beauty sitting on shoulders creative and strong.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Libros Libertad Publishing
• Release date: Oct 7, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301499328

Manolis

Manolis (Emmanuel Aligizakis) is a Cretan-Canadian poet and author. He’s the most prolific writer-poet of the Greek diaspora. At the age of eleven he transcribed the nearly 500 year old romantic poem Erotokritos, now released in a limited edition of 100 numbered copies and made available for collectors of such rare books at 5,000 dollars Canadian: the most expensive book of its kind to this day. He was recently appointed an honorary instructor and fellow of the International Arts Academy, and awarded a Master’s for the Arts in Literature. He is recognized for his ability to convey images and thoughts in a rich and evocative way that tugs at something deep within the reader. Born in the village of Kolibari on the island of Crete in 1947, he moved with his family at a young age to Thessaloniki and then to Athens, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Sciences from the Panteion University of Athens. After graduation, he served in the armed forces for two years and emigrated to Vancouver in 1973, where he worked as an iron worker, train labourer, taxi driver, and stock broker, and studied English Literature at Simon Fraser University. He has written three novels and numerous collections of poetry, which are steadily being released as published works. His articles, poems and short stories in both Greek and English have appeared in various magazines and newspapers in Canada, United States, Sweden, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Australia, Jordan, Serbia and Greece. His poetry has been translated into Spanish, Romanian, Swedish, German, Hungarian, Ukrainian, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Turkish, Serbian, Russian, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, languages and has been published in book form or in magazines in various countries. He now lives in White Rock, where he spends his time writing, gardening, traveling, and heading Libros Libertad, an unorthodox and independent publishing company which he founded in 2006 with the mission of publishing literary books. His translation book “George Seferis-Collected Poems” was shortlisted for the Greek National Literary Awards the highest literary recognition of Greece. In September 2017 he was awarded the First Poetry Prize of the Mihai Eminescu International Poetry Festival, in Craiova, Romania.

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Copyright 2013 by Manolis

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other-wise, without the written prior permission of the publisher.

First published by:Libros Libertad Publishing Ltd.2244 154A StreetSurrey, BCV4A 5S9 [phone]
Fax [phone]

www.libroslibertad.ca

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Cloe and Alexandra-- selected poems / Cloe Koutsoubelis, Alexandra Bakonika ; translated by Manolis.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-926763-26-2 (pbk.)

1. Greek poetry, Modern--20th century--Translations into English.

I. Manolis, 1947-, translator.

PA5289.E6C55 2013 889’.13408 C2013-905980-6

Front cover illustration – © difinbeker - Fotolia.comPhoto of Cloe Koutsoubelis - Panagiotis Papatheodoropoulos

Design and Layout by SpicaBookDesign

The Picture

We embrace

(proof is your arm around my back)

it’s windy, I wear a gray overcoat

leaves swirl falling

forever yours you whisper while

in the background coals appear

white horses

the pit full of dead

tree with heads hanging from its branches

the silent declaration of gravesites

people with candles

grieve silently

as it rains darkness and

while all this happens

your face vanishes

from the picture and

this loss, so small in the dead Cosmos

that surrounds us

this exact insignificant loss

gives this picture

the priceless value

of the for ever lost.

Optimism

One day we’ll meet again.

You’ll wear your face and

the gray raincoat

it’ll be a bit windy,

as when we had that stroll,

asphodels will fly between us

the ancient ruins

will get filled by pollen

haze will cover our kiss.

Your lips warm.

Then you: this will never end.

And I: this will end.

In Antarctica a ball of snow melts and

somewhere else a continent sinks in the void.

In the ancient agora a man, a woman

joyously saunter

unsuspecting of what comes next.

Guilt

I’m guilty, I confess.

The last poem I wrote for you.

Mitigating circumstances: the rain

the endless cigarettes, alcohol

perhaps even your body

as memory of what never happened.

In reality I wrote about some other things

for that story in the Garden,

that you never took the courage

you never learned

you never asked.

And last night, I confess

I wrote a verse for you

sorrowful and naked

in this smudgy always half finished

poem of my life.

At the Movie Theater

I’ll wear the new red overcoat.

You will wear your blue shirt and jeans.

One of our favored films will be shown

the ‘Lover’ or "Casablanka’

or Hiroshima my Love.

I shall cry as always.

You’ll kiss the volcano of my palm.

You’ll caress my hair

softly that it won’t break because of

a memory fluttering in your mind

that we’ve lived these events

in the past, back then