Κατερίνα Γώγου//Katerina Gogou

TROY AVENUE 35A

My house, like yours
intrudes into the houses of others
since the roads are so narrow
and there are so many people.
Sometimes I feel we sleep in the same bed
since we are almost glued together
we use the same brush to brush our teeth
and we eat the same food.
Only when you go
you leave behind your dirty dishes
it can’t be explained otherwise
that the sink is always full.
It doesn’t matter though.
I do what I can
to show how much I love you.
For this I put on the fake moustache
and I go out to the rain with a fan
that your children will laugh.
Only I beg of you don’t gossip about us
and leave my Myrto alone.
She was born as she looks:
sad.

 

ΤΡΟΙΑΣ 35 Α

Το σπίτι μου όπως και το δικό σας
μπαίνει στα σπίτια των άλλων ανθρώπων
έτσι στενοί που `ναι οι δρόμοι
έτσι πολλοί που `ναι οι ανθρώποι.
Είναι φορές κολλητά όπως ζούμε
που θαρρώ πως κοιμόμαστε στο ίδιο κρεβάτι
πλένουμε τα δόντια μας με το ίδιο βουρτσάκι
και τρώμε το ίδιο φαί.
Μόνο που όταν φεύγετε
αφήνετε τα πιάτα σας άπλυτα
δεν εξηγείται αλλιώς
έτσι βρόμικος που είναι πάντα ο νεριοχύτης.
Δεν πειράζει όμως.
Και κάνω ό,τι μπορώ
για να σας δείξω πόσο σας αγαπάω.
Γι’ αυτό κολλάω το μουστάκι
και βγαίνω με τη βεντάλια στη βροχή.
Για να γελάσουν τα παιδιά σας.
Μονάχα σας παρακαλώ μη μας κουτσομπολεύετε.
Κι αφήστε τη δική μου τη Μυρτώ ήσυχη.
Έτσι γεννήθηκε.
Λυπημένη.

~Κατερίνας Γώγου/Katerina Gogou, Τα τελευταία Ποιήματα
~Μετάφραση Μανώλη Αλυγιζάκη/Translated by Manolis Aligizakis

 

BIOGRAPHY

Katerina Gogou (Greek: Κατερίνα Γώγου; 1 June 1940 – 3 October 1993) was a Greek poet, author and actress. Before her suicide by pill overdose at the age of 53, Gogou appeared in over thirty Greek films. She was born in Athens, Greece.
One of her books was translated into English, “Three clicks left” in the United States in 1983 by Jack Hirschman and published by “Night Horn Books” in San Francisco. The Greek title was, ‘Τρία κλικ αριστερά’, and first published by Kastaniotis in 1978. Her poetry was known for its rebellious and communist content.
As an actress she was known for lesser roles of rebellious free spirited women. She won the first women’s award at the Salonica film festival.
As a poet she is known for her antiestablishment poems and her anarchist ideals. Her verse is filled by indignation and refute however her ideals, her wounded psychological state lead her to suicide at the age of 53.
Numerous poems written by Gogou appeared in the Greek film ‘Parangelia’ about the life of Nikos Koemtzis who, in 1973, killed three individuals (two of whom were policemen) and injured another eight at a bouzouki club in Athens over a dance.

The Best Literature Inspired by the Greek Islands

The Best Literature Inspired by the Greek Islands

The Greek Islands have been a source of literary inspiration from the ancient times. The unique beauty of the natural landscape , the warm Mediterranean climate and distinct local culture are some of the reasons behind this inspiration. But also this small country’s hardships in the face of political changes and terrifying historical challenges have captured the attention of foreign and local authors. Below we have listed five of the most famous novels which take place in the Greek Islands.

Table by the Sea in Greece © George Pachantouris/Flickr

Zorba the Greek (1946)
Zorba the Greek is perhaps the most famous Greek book by talented Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis. The book tells the story of a young Greek intellectual, the narrator, who spends a year in a rural village in the greek island of Crete with Zorba, a simple worker whose character is an antithesis of his own. Zorba is a man full of life and talents, with strong natural instincts and folk wisdom. The narrator slowly, and while experiencing the predicaments of rural life in Crete, comes to realise how weak his intellectual superiority is to Zorbas’ simple understanding of life. The book touched millions of hearts when it was turned into a movie in 1964 starring Anthony Queen. For many the character of Zorba became a popular symbol of Greek soul.

Watching the Twilight in Patmos © Yiannis Theologos Michellis/Flickr
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (1994)

Another book also turned into a movie is Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières. Set in the Greek island of Cephallonia during the German and Italian occupation of the Second World War, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin narrates the touching love story of Italian young captain Antonio Corelli and Pelagia, the daughter of the local Greek doctor. The romance that develops under adversary circumstances has to suffer the strikes of fate when Italy joins forces with the Allies and the Germans on the island turn on the Italians. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin is an emotionally charged story that works on different levels: It is a love story and war story and at the same time a historic account that reflects many of the bitter untold realities of the country’s wartime suffering.

Scan1©TakaUmemura/Flickr
The Island (2005)

Victoria Hislop’s literary debut, the Island, begins with a woman travelling to the island of Crete in search of her mother’s past. She is surprised to find out that her mother’s native village of Plaka is near the island of Spinaloga, a former Greek leper colony. She will then learn from a family friend the tragic story of her mother’s family through three generations of tumultuous lives and passions. Victoria Hislop was awarded the 2007 British Book Award for the Island, and it also became a popular series for Greek television – To Nisi – and the most expensive television production ever in Greece.

The Two Faces of January (1964)
Patricia Highsmith’s 1964 psychological thriller narrates the story of an American con-artist Chester McFarland and his wife Colette, who find themselves in trouble in Greece when Chester accidentally kills a Greek policeman in his hotel room in Athens. A young American lawyer helps the couple to flee to Crete, where they settle in a hotel. But more trouble emerges there as the trio turn on each other and tragedy falls in the ancient site of Knossos. The story follows the classic Patricia Highsmith breathtaking storytelling pattern that moves the action to different locations: after Crete, back to Athens, and then to a whole new setting altogether in Paris. The Greek island becomes the “far away land” and offers an ideal setting for the emotions to rise and the action to culminate.

Odysseus and the Sirens. An 1891 painting by John William Waterhouse © National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne/WikiCommons
Odyssey (8th Century BC)

The world-famous ancient epic poem by Greek poet Homer is perhaps the one that captures the imagination the most, as it draws on an ancient past of heroes and mythical creatures. Three thousand years have passed since Odysseus found Ithaca again, and visitors from around the world still visit the island in the search of archaeological findings of Penelope’s palace. The epic Odyssey of the Greek hero who wondered ten years in the ancient seas searching for his homeland, Ithaca , will never cease to amaze, excite and inspire.

http://www.theculturetrip.com/europe/greece

KATERINA GOGOU-LAST POEMS//ΚΑΤΕΡΙΝΑ ΓΩΓΟΥ-ΤΑ ΤΕΛΕΥΤΑΙΑ ΠΟΙΗΜΑΤΑ

SEASONS WILL COVER ME

Love has a diaphanous white color and
its body the shape of benediction and
this horse
searches amid the smoke
for its dead rider
to take him away.

I think that whether ancient or modern
the seasons will cover me.
That way I won’t feel hungry
nor thirsty and
I won’t write poems anymore.

Only, Lord, homeland of the stars, I beg you
dress me in the white diaphanous color and
grace me with the body of Your benediction.

Do I ask for too much?

ΟΙ ΕΠΟΧΕΣ ΘΑ ΜΕ ΚΑΛΥΨΟΥΝ

Η αγάπη είναι χρώμα άσπρο διάφανο
και το σώμα της σχήμα ευλογίας.
Κι αυτό το άλογο
ψάχνει μέσα στους καπνούς
το νεκρό καβαλάρη του
μακριά να τον πάρει.

Σκέφτομαι αρχαία και σύγχρονη
οι εποχές θα με σκεπάσουν.
Έτσι δεν θα πεινάω πια
και ούτε θα διψάσω
και ούτε ποιήματα θα γράφω πια.

Μόνο παρακαλώ, Θεέ, των αστεριών πατρίδα
χρώμα άσπρο διάφανο ντύσε με
και το σχήμα μου το σώμα της ευλογίας Σου δώσε.
~Κατερίνας Γώγου/Katerina Gogou, Τα τελευταία Ποιήματα
~Μετάφαρση Μανώλη Αλυγιζάκη/Translated by Manolis Aligizakis

KATERINA GOGOU-THE ANARCHIST

FOR THE ONES THEY’VE BROKEN
FOR THE ONES THEY’VE IMPRISONED

Tattered by the wild waves
life’s leftovers forever thrown
into the dark bowels of earth
with their shadowy minds
caused by the frenetic haunting
of the motionless course of the stars
the last ones
leaned their tired head
sacrifice
to the ceremonial whirlwind of time.
There were no people and
the white snow of silence
finally blanketed the sunken cities.

Σ’ ΟΣΟΥΣ ΣΠΑΣΑΝΕ
Σ’ ΟΣΟΥΣ ΚΡΑΤΑΝΕ

Κουρελιασμένοι απ’ τ’ αγριεμένα κύματα
πεταμένα υπολείμματα για πάντα από δω και μπρος
στο σκοτεινό θάλαμο της γης
με ισκιωμένο το μυαλό
απ’ το ξέφρενο κυνηγητό
τις ασάλευτης πορείας των άστρων
οι τελευταίοι
απόθεσαν το κουρασμένο κεφάλι τους
θυσία
στην τελετουργία των ανεμοστρόβιλων καιρών.
Κι άνθρωποι δεν υπήρχανε.
κι ένα άσπρο χιόνι σιωπής
σκέπασε οριστικά τις βυθισμένες πόλεις.
~ Katerina Gogou, translated by Manolis Aligizakis

KATERINA GOGOU (The actress, the poet, the anarchist, the communist, the rebellious)

25th of MARCH

One day I’ll open the door
to go out to the streets
just like yesterday and
I won’t think but
a piece of my father and
a piece of the sea,
things they left to me,
and the city. This city that they’ve turned rotten
and our friends who vanished.
One day I’ll open the door
straight to the fire and
I’ll enter like yesterday
crying out “fascists!!”
putting up road blocks and throwing stones
with a red banner
gleaming high up in the sunshine.
I’ll open the door
and this, not because I’m afraid,
but, I mean to say,
I had no time to grab them and
that you also have to learn
not to go down the streets
without arms like I did,
I had no time to grab them
because you’ll get lost like I did
“just like that, vaguely”
broken to pieces
of the sea, years of childhood and
red banners.
One day I’ll open the door
and vanish
with the dream of revolution
in the wholesome loneliness
of the conflagrated streets
in the endless loneliness
of the made of carton road blocks
with the epithet—don’t believe in them—
Provocateur.

Translated by Manolis Aligizakis

25 ΜΑΪΟΥ

Ένα πρωί θ’ ανοίξω την πόρτα
και θα βγω στους δρόμους
όπως και χτες.
Και δεν θα συλλογιέμαι παρά
ένα κομμάτι από τον πατέρα
κι ένα κομμάτι από τη θάλασσα
-αυτά που μ’ άφησαν-
και την πόλη. Την πόλη που τη σάπισαν.
Και τους φίλους μας που χάθηκαν.
Ένα πρωί θα ανοίξω την πόρτα
ίσα ολόισα στη φωτιά
και θα μπω όπως και χτες
φωνάζοντας “φασίστες!!”
στήνοντας οδοφράγματα και πετώντας πέτρες
μ’ ένα κόκκινο λάβαρο
ψηλά να γυαλίζει στον ήλιο.
Θ’ ανοίξω την πόρτα
και είναι -όχι πως φοβάμαι-
μα να, θέλω να σου πω, πως δεν πρόλαβα
και πως εσύ πρέπει να μάθεις
να μην κατεβαίνεις στο δρόμο
χωρίς όπλα όπως εγώ
– γιατί εγώ δεν πρόλαβα-
γιατί τότε θα χαθείς όπως και εγώ
“έτσι” “αόριστα”
σπασμένη σε κομματάκια
από θάλασσα, χρόνια παιδικά
και κόκκινα λάβαρα.
Ένα πρωί θ’ ανοίξω την πόρτα
και θα χαθώ
με τ΄όνειρο της επανάστασης
μες την απέραντη μοναξιά
των δρόμων που θα καίγονται,
μες την απέραντη μοναξιά
των χάρτινων οδοφραγμάτων
με το χαρακτηρισμό -μην τους πιστέψεις!-
Προβοκάτορας.

BIOGRAPHY

Katerina Gogou (Greek: Κατερίνα Γώγου; 1 June 1940 – 3 October 1993) was a Greek poet, author and actress. Before her suicide by pill overdose at the age of 53, Gogou appeared in over thirty Greek films. She was born in Athens, Greece.
One of her books was translated into English, “Three clicks left” in the United States in 1983 by Jack Hirschman and published by “Night Horn Books” in San Francisco. The Greek title was, ‘Τρία κλικ αριστερά’, and first published by Kastaniotis in 1978. Her poetry was known for its rebellious and communist content.
As an actress she was known for lesser roles of rebellious free spirited women. She won the first women’s award at the Salonica film festival.
As a poet she is known for her anti-establishment poems and her anarchist ideals. Her verse is filled by indignation and refute however her ideals, her wounded psychological state lead her to suicide at the age of 53.
Numerous poems written by Gogou appeared in the Greek film ‘Parangelia’ about the life of Nikos Koemtzis who, in 1973, killed three individuals (two of whom were policemen) and injured another eight at a bouzouki club in Athens over a dance.

ΒΙΟΓΡΑΦΙΑ
Η Κατερίνα Γώγου (1 Ιουνίου 1940 – 3 Οκτωβρίου 1993) ήταν Ελληνίδα ποιήτρια και ηθοποιός. Ξεκίνησε από μικρή καριέρα στην ηθοποιία αλλά αργότερα στράφηκε στην ποίηση
Ως ηθοποιός είναι γνωστή περισσότερο για δευτερεύοντες ρόλους, όπως στην ταινία το Ξύλο βγήκε από τον Παράδεισο ή το Μια τρελή τρελή οικογένεια. Οι ρόλοι της συνήθως απεικόνιζαν αστείες και ανέμελες γυναίκες. Της έχει απονεμηθεί, στο Φεστιβάλ Θεσσαλονίκης, το Βραβείο Α΄ Γυναικείου ρόλου, για την ταινία Το βαρύ πεπόνι.
Ως ποιήτρια, από την άλλη, είναι γνωστή για τον αντισυμβατικό και συνειρμικό τρόπο γραφής της, καθώς και τις αναρχικές της ιδέες. Οι στίχοι της ήταν γεμάτοι οργή και επαναστατικότητα. Το σκοτάδι της, ο ασυμβίβαστος χαρακτήρας της και η κλονισμένη ψυχολογία της, όμως, την οδήγησαν, σε ηλικία μόλις 53 ετών, στην αυτοκτονία. Πολλά απ’ τα ποιήματά της παρουσιάστηκαν στο φιλμ «Παραγγελιά» που αναφερόταν στη ζωή του Νίκου Κοεμτζή που το 1973 σκότωσε τρία άτομα (δύο απ’ αυτά αστυνομικοί) και τραυμάτισε άλλα οκτώ σ’ ενα μπουζουκξίδικο της Αθήνας κι ο λόγος μια διφωνία για ένα χορό.
Πολλά απ’ τα ποιήματά της παρουσιάστηκαν στο φιλμ «Παραγγελιά» που αναφερόταν στη ζωή του Νίκου Κοεμτζή που το 1973 σκότωσε τρία άτομα (δύο απ’ αυτά αστυνομικοί) και τραυμάτισε άλλα οκτώ σ’ ενα μπουζουκξίδικο της Αθήνας κι ο λόγος μια διαφωνία για ένα χορό.