Study for a Decoration of a Depth of 293 Atmospheres [selection]
A surreal poem for the start of July
by Ektor Kaknavatos
trans. Nanos Valaoritis, in An Anthology of Modern Greek Poetry
The broad leaf wrecked everything as it fell to the ground.
D.P. PAPADITSAS
(Again ashen yellow in six-eights time)
Oh embrace of the silent mother with the measureless
wings, there are many days I left from
the wells that refreshed the untamed afternoons
so as not to hold onto my form.
We remembered so many gleams from the triumph of spring
the good taste of the storks that flew over
the summer cemeteries and the glorious galley
docked at that wharf
where we raised castles of sand.
We remained so ecstatic all silent
gazing at the strange trireme that was journeying
in the evening sky while it was superbly burning
that the beaks of the birds could not
unfurl the whiteness even of a trill
of July.
So much did the touch of the river flow
filled with velvet and the eyes of serpents
that I clasped this heart in the palms of my hands
to squeeze in the bud of a star.
I had been wounded by that period of time
From when I was a handsome ichthyosaur
without gabardine and without armpits s
o that the sun could forget my voice.
Ah ... where are you Barbarossa with your silken
tobacco pipe and the castles around your forehead
to bind the foot of an albatross
that was struck in the Spianada of Kerkyra
two and a half hours distance from the Patriarchate.
Greetings!
Reader’s Ask: What should I do with a surreal poem that arrives in the mail?
Answer:
Artists can draw the poem.
Poets can continue the poem.
Philosophers can logic the poem.
Mystics can watch for how the poem will come true today.
Laborers: When you grow weary, use the poem as escape.
Self-optimizers: Memorize the poem then turn off your screens.
Musicians: Write a melody to find the poem’s cadence.
Teachers: Have students read and discuss before recess.
Bureaucrats: Do unto others as this poem has done unto you.
Physicists: Try to break the poem: watch it pour out light.
Art by flu