Kornaros's Classic Poem in Longhand by (an 12-year old resident of Crete) Manolis Emmanuel Aligizakis
Greek Canadian Literature Libros Libertad Manolis Aligizakis
twenty-four
Twenty-four thousand years before zero
ten repeated Ice Age seasons
stasis instability
as Homo Sapiens for tens of thousands of years
craziness fortifies itself
you doubt your nature
in the middle belt of the planet
the ice pushes you to emigrate
the green Mother traps you with love
Her first effort
to reason
Idols that fill the palaces
and surprised by their high
columns, turrets, gods and
people, thousands of lives
made of copper and marble
having the elephant’s grace,
the value of precious gold
and like anything powerful
and tangible, foreign, standing
and artistic made wisely
an enigmatic artistic creation.
And he saw the rich nobles
heavy and pompous as if
chained and placed properly
around the regal throne of
by the grace of god despot and
he saw magistrates and
lawmakers with golden
bracelets dressed in heavy
cloaks and purple robes
the palace’s first nobles
and the adorned with gold
masters of the court and maidens
and princesses dressed in white
who shone like vague stars
and he saw the club-bearing
guards and further out at
the corner he saw the riders
standing next to their horses
with the shining heads and
the Venetian lances onto
which the young fighters
leaned their gigantic bodies.
And the frontiersmen stood
there too, scattered and alone
tired and discarded valiants
and the prophet shivered.
excerpt
Ring . . . Ring . . . Ring . . .
Joel heard the phone as he entered the house. He had just
finished another day of working the horses with Harry and
Tanya. The weather was hot and he was ready for a shower. He
had headed up to the house ahead of Tanya, who was helping
Harry to finish grooming the horses. Joel was feeling really good
about the horses’ training. He knew that they would show themselves
well at sale time.
As he reached for the phone, he was hoping that it wasn’t
Cindy calling to cancel their dinner plans for Saturday night.
“Hello?”
“Got bad news for you, Joel.” It was Roy from the auction yard.
Joel could recognize that gravelly voice anywhere.
“What’s wrong, Roy?”
“Can’t find a rancher who wants you at their sale. Seems you
have a lot of people running scared.”
“Running scared? Roy, I don’t even know any of the big producers.”
“But they know you. The consensus seems to be that with this
being a real dry year, there isn’t going to be an abundance of buyers.
The ranchers are thinking that there are too many horses and not
enough buyers with cash. They see you as a competitor and don’t
want you benefiting from all of the goodwill they have built up with
their customers over the years. I can’t say I blame them.”
Code Name Medusa
We came, we saw, he died*
Madam Secretary said
glance gleamed with satisfaction
reincarnated Medusa
petrified the infidels
created rock formations
severed from the shoulders
shuttered tips of toes
tumbling to earth
justice for all
she declared and
we stood astounded by her clarity
no debate
nor ambivalence
just business
each declaration of war
kept bomb makers busy
Mayanaam
vequinox
Manolis 