MANOLIS ANAGNOSTAKIS–ΜΑΝΩΛΗΣ ΑΝΑΓΝΩΣΤΑΚΗΣ

I SPEAK

I speak of the last trumpeting of the defeated soldiers.
of the last rags from our festive garments
of our children who sell cigarettes to the passers-by.
I speak of the flowers that wilted on the graves and
rain rots them
of the houses gaping with no windows like toothless
skulls
of girls begging and showing the scars of their breasts.
I speak of the shoeless mothers who crawl among the ruins
of the conflagrated cities the corpses piled in
the streets
the pimps poets who during the night shiver by the front
steps.
I speak of the endless nights when the light is dimmed
at dawn
of the loaded trucks and the footsteps on the wet
cobblestones.
I speak of the prison yard and of the tear of the moribund.

But I speak more of the fishermen
who abandoned their nets and followed His steps
and when He got tired they didn’t rest
and when He betrayed them they didn’t reject Him
and when He was glorified they turned their eyes the other way
and their comrades spat at them and crucified them.
Though they, serene, took the road that had no end
and their glance didn’t ever darken nor bowed down
standing up and lonely amid the horrible loneliness of the crowd.

ΜΙΛΩ
Μιλώ για τα τελευταία σαλπίσματα των νικημένων στρατιωτών.
Για τα τελευταία κουρέλια από τα γιορτινά μας φορέματα.
Για τα παιδιά μας που πουλάν τσιγάρα στους διαβάτες.
Μιλώ για τα λουλούδια που μαραθήκανε στους τάφους
και τα σαπίζει η βροχή.
Για τα σπίτια που χάσκουνε δίχως παράθυρα σαν κρανία
ξεδοντιασμένα.
Για τα κορίτσια που ζητιανεύουνε δείχνοντας στα στήθια
τις πληγές τους.
Μιλώ για τις ξυπόλητες μάνες που σέρνονται στα χαλάσματα.
Για τις φλεγόμενες πόλεις τα σωριασμένα κουφάρια στους
δρόμους.
Τους μαστροπούς ποιητές που τρέμουνε τις νύχτες στα
κατώφλια.
Μιλώ για τις ατέλειωτες νύχτες όταν το φως λιγοστεύει τα
ξημερώματα.
Για τα φορτωμένα καμιόνια και τους βηματισμούς στις υγρές
πλάκες.
Για τα προαύλια των φυλακών και για το δάκρυ
των μελλοθανάτων.

Μα πιο πολύ μιλώ για τους ψαράδες.
Π’ αφήσανε τα δίχτυα τους και πήρανε τα βήματά Του.
Κι όταν Αυτός κουράστηκε αυτοί δεν ξαποστάσαν.
Κι όταν Αυτός τους πρόδωσε αυτοί δεν αρνηθήκαν.
Κι όταν Αυτός δοξάστηκε αυτοί στρέψαν τα μάτια.
Κι οι σύντροφοί τούς φτύνανε και τους σταυρώναν.
Κι αυτοί, γαλήνιοι, το δρόμο παίρνουνε π’ άκρη δεν έχει.
Χωρίς το βλέμμα τους να σκοτεινιάσει ή να λυγίσει.
Όρθιοι και μόνοι μες στη φοβερή ερημία του πλήθους.
~Μανώλη Αναγνωστάκη/Manolis Anagnostakis—μετάφραση Μανώλη Αλυγιζάκη/translated by Manolis Aligizakis

Édouard Schuré

Eduard (Édouard) Schuré (January 21, 1841 in Strasbourg – April 7, 1929 in Paris) was a French philosopher, poet, playwright, novelist, music critic, and publicist of esoteric literature.
Biography

Schuré was the son of a doctor in the Alsatian town of Strasbourg, who died when Édouard was fourteen years old. Schuré mastered French as well as German, and was influenced by German and French culture in his formative years. He received his degree in law at the University of Strasbourg, but he never entered into practice. Schuré called the three most significant of his friendships those with Richard Wagner, Marguerita Albana Mignaty and Rudolf Steiner.[1]
Schuré’s interest and studies led to an extensive knowledge of German literature. The discovery of Wagner’s “music drama” Tristan and Isolde impressed him sufficiently to seek—and obtain—Wagner’s personal acquaintance.
In France, he published his first work Histoire du Lied—a history of the German folk song, which earned him some recognition in the country of his family. With the publication of the essay Richard Wagner et le Drame Musical, he established himself as a major French Wagner expert and advocate of the time.
When the Franco-German war of 1870-71 poisoned the German arts for many French, it would seem that Schuré was not immune from this influence. His nationalism is reflected in his remarks of this time—and later in his life—in a comparison of glorified Celtism (France) and a negatively viewed “Teutonism” (Germany).
On a trip to Italy during this time he met, twenty years his junior, a Greek girl, Marguerita Albana Mignaty, whom he subsequently described as his “muse”, although he himself was married.
After the tide of war had ebbed, Schuré reestablished his relationship with Wagner. In 1873, he met the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche; with frequent contact they shared enthusiasm for Wagner. The cultist veneration of Wagner, however, seeded Schuré’s alienation from the composer.
Schuré now turned increasingly to the esoteric and the occult; his major influence being the famous French occultist-scholar Fabre d’ Olivet. In 1884, he met the founder of the Theosophical Society Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. Although unwelcome in the Theosophical Society, he nevertheless entered. In 1889, he published, after some smaller works on similar topics, his major work Les Grands Initiés (The Great Initiates).
In 1900, the actress Marie von Sivers came into contact with him because she intended to translate his works into German (The Great Initiates, The Sacred Drama of Eleusis and The Children of Lucifer). At the German Section of the Theosophical Society, he met the Austrian philosopher and later founder of Anthroposophy, Rudolf Steiner. In 1906, Sivers brought about a meeting between Schuré and Steiner. Schuré was deeply impressed and thought of Steiner as an authentic ‘initiate’ in line with his The Great Initiates. After hearing Steiner lecture in Paris for the first time in 1906, Schuré in an ecstatic state ran home and wrote down the entirety of the lecture from memory. This first lecture, and the other lectures in the series (which Schuré wrote down) were published as Esoteric Cosmology.[2] Subsequently, Steiner and von Sivers staged Schuré’s esoteric dramas at the following Theosophical Congresses in Berlin and Munich. Schuré’s The Children of Lucifer, served as a precursor of Rudolf Steiner’s own esoteric dramas.
In 1908 Schuré brought out Le Mystère Chrétien et les Mystères Antiques,[3] a French translation of Steiner’s work Christianity as Mystical Fact and the Mysteries of Antiquity.[4] With the outbreak of World War I, Schuré’s relationship with Steiner and his wife became strained. Schuré threw in the two secret intentions about Germanic and Pan and stepped out of Steiner’s Anthroposophical Society. Four years after the war, Schuré re-consolidated his friendship with Steiner.
In subsequent years, Schuré published his autobiography.
Esoteric and literary meaning

Schuré’s The Great Initiates is described by some as a masterpiece. In it, he describes the path allegedly followed by some of the ancient philosophers in search of profound esoteric knowledge, often called the “initiation”, as describing the process of becoming a mystic master or spiritual healer.
Those familiar with Rama, Hermes Trismegistus, Socrates, Jesus, Orpheus will find frequent references in Schuré’s work. Schuré pursued the notion that a secret esoteric knowledge was known to them all, that this group were among the pillars of civilization and represented the founders of spiritual and philosophical ways of being as well as in some cases—though contrary to their message—religions. Schuré recognized that the path to a harmonious world was not to be found through a bigoted denial of the value found by other civilizations by their own sages. He wanted people to recognize the value of democracy in spiritual, philosophical, and religious ways. .
Schuré wrote a considerable number of books and plays. His plays enjoyed relative fame in his days in Europe, and some of them were put on stage by Steiner. He also influenced Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev.
~Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia

OF REMORSES and REGRETS

WATER WELL

Water-well springs to the foreground the matador’s blood that decorates goring horns of the bull and another opulent song dances on the white petals of the gardenia flower: save this moment before the irresistible Hades walks your way.

—You need to dig the garden but you watch TV all day long.

I drink the traditional bitter coffee while you lay in the coffin like a definition of exactly the opposite you ought to be yet when my time will arrive to fit in the width and length of the same casket you won’t return to drink my bitter coffee.

—You remember when you went hunting and the car engine froze on you?

Hoarfrost of April still around when the heartless Hades pierces my heart, the first swallows dance in the air and my mother covered the red eggs of Easter under the kitchen towel hiding them from my eyes.

—Get up and take the garbage to the sidewalk, you lazy bum.

And I beg Hades to bring you back to me, my beloved. His sardonic laughter a macabre omen and in the form of a song he whispers.

—Since I’ve left you alone your other half I needed to take: to balance the universe.

ΠΗΓΑΔΙ

Απ’το πηγάδι πηγάζει η ζωή του ταυρομάχου που το αίμα του στολίζει τα κέρατα του ταύρου που τον κάρφωσαν και τ’ οπάλινο τραγούδι χορεύει στα λευκά της γαρδένιας πέταλα: κράτησε τη στιγμή αυτη προτού ο ευδιάθετος Χάρος σε επιλέξει.

—Πρέπει να σκάψεις τον κήπο κι εσύ όλη μέρα χαζεύεις την τηλεόραση.

Πίνω τον παραδοσιακό πικρό καφέ κι εσύ κείτεσαι στο φέρετρο, ακριβής ορισμός του αντίθετου που μέλλουσουν να γίνεις κι όταν η ώρα μου έρθει κι εγώ να μετρήσω το μάκρος και το πλάτος του φερέτρου αυτού εσύ δεν θα `σαι `κει να πιεις τον πικρό καφέ σου.

—Θυμάσαι τότε που πήγες κυνήγι κι η μηχανή του αυτοκινήτου πάγωσε απ’ την παγωνιά;

Παγωνιά του Απρίλη που ο άκαρδος Χάρος την καρδιά μου πλήγωσε, τα πρώτα χελιδόνια χορεύουν στον αέρα κι η μάνα μου σκέπασε με μια πετσέτα τα κόκκινα Πασχαλινά αβγά για να τα κρύψει απ’ τα δυο λαίμαργά μου μάτια.

—Σήκω και βγάλε τα σκουπίδια στο δρόμο, τεμπέλη.

Κι εγώ το Χάρο παρακαλώ να σε γυρίσει πίσω, αγαπημένη μου. Γελά σαρδόνια και σαν τραγουδιστά μου ψυθιρίζει

—Σου χάρισα τη ζωή. Το έτερό σου ήμυσι έπρεπε να πάρω την ισορροπία να διατηρήσω.

~ OF REMORSES and REGRETS, Collection in progress, Vancouver, BC, 2015

REMORSES and EPIPHANIES

JULY

July the twenty second, eight thirty-five in the morning, the nightingale hides in the branches when Hades decides to push His arm deep in the jar of ostracons and bring up the one with my name written in capital letters…MANOLIS…with patience He sharpens His sickle on the stone as the jasmine reminds Him of a special fragrance and the chickadee sings our national anthem.

—I want to go on a holiday trip, faraway to some secluded romantic place.

He comes to my humble hovel when suddenly Atropos, Clotho and Lachesis toss His mind between a rock and a hard place, from north to south, it dons on him: enough men taken the last few hours.

—Don’t be concerned with your blood pressure: add a little salt it gives taste to the food.

He changes His mind. He flies to Bosnia where men line for the taking. He leaves and leaves me free in peace.

—Let’s go to Mexico where lovers go, like the two of us, eh baby?

Ostracon with my name written in capital letters is put back in the immense jar of ostracons,
like a cell of heart tissue to its muscle.

—If we put enough money away we can go onto a Caribbean cruise this September.
ΙΟΥΛΙΟΣ

Εικοσιδύο Ιουλίου, οχτώ και τριανταπέντε το πρωί, τ’ αηδόνι κρύβεται στα κλαδιά καθώς ο Χάρος αποφασίζει να βάλει το χέρι στη μεγάλη σακκούλα με τα όστρακα και διαλέξει εκείνο με τ’ όνομά μου με κεφαλαία γράμματα γραμμένο…ΜΑΝΩΛΗΣ…υπομονετικά το δρεπάνι του στην πέτρα ακονίζει καθώς το γιασεμί του υπενθυμίζει μια συγκεκριμένη ευωδία και το μαυροπούλι τραγουδάει τον εθνικό μας ύμνο.

—Θέλω να πάμε διακοπές σε κάποιο μέρος μακρινό και ρομαντικό.

Κι ο Χάρος το φτωχικό μου σπίτι επισκέπτεται όταν ξαφνικά η Κλωθώ, η Άτροπος κι η Λάχεσις του ταλανίζουν το μυαλό μεταξύ πέτρας και γρανίτη, απ’ τ’ανατολικά στα δυτικά, κι αποφαίνεται: αρκετούς τις τελευταίες ώρες πήρε.

—Μη σε στενοχωρεί η πίεσή σου, βάλε λίγο αλάτι ακόμα στο φαί, το νοστιμίζει.

Κι ο Χάρος τη γνώμη του αλλάζει και πετά μακριά στη Μπόσνια που στέκουν όλοι στη γραμμή να σκοτωθούν. Φεύγει και μ’ αφήνει λεύτερο στην ησυχία μου.

—Πάμε στο Μεξικό που πάνε οι εραστές σαν εμάς τους δυο μωρό μου, εντάξει;

Τ’ όστρακο με τ’ όνομά μου γραμμένο με κεφαλαία γράμματα ρίχνεται ξανά στη σακκούλα σαν κύτταρο μυώνα πίσω στην καρδιά.

—Αν αποταμιεύσουμε μερικά χρήματα θα πάμε το Σεπτέμβριο κρουαζιέρα στην Καραβαϊκή.

~REMORSES and EPIPHANIES, collection in Progress.

SECOND ADVENT OF ZEUS

HERMES

First morning and he helped me find why

I was different
from the statue, tasty that
I was like the abalone.
Individuation
incarnation and
shiny pebbles
by the shore
naked Korae with
the sweetness of fresh grapes
during the summer eve
purple colored sighs and
the lone martyr I became as
I felt indisposed to uphold
blasphemies of the pious
thus I deleted their advise
and turned inward to my roots
the depth of this path to pass

to reach my catharsis
that the north wind
claimed my carcass
but not before
I defended the holy ground
my armor
the exquisite aroma of gardenia

gills of fishes full of bubbles
and small sponges
I pulled from
the bottom of the sea
another way
to cleanse the impurities
of my soul

ΕΡΜΗΣ

Πρώτο πρωί και με βοήθησε να καταλάβω

γιατί ξεχώριζα απ’ το άγαλμα
νόστιμος
που ήμουν σαν τη πεταλίδα.
Εξατομίκευση
ενσαρκωμένη
και στιλπνά βότσαλα
στην ακροθαλασσιά
γυμνές κόρες
με τη γλύκα του σταφυλιού
απόβραδο καλοκαιριού
μενεξελί στεναγμοί

ο μόνος μάρτυρας εγώ
απρόθυμος που ήμουν να κηρύττω
βλαστήμιες των θεοσεβών
κι έτσι διέγραψα τις συμβουλές τους
και στράφηκα στις ρίζες μου
του βάθους το μονοπάτι να διανύσω

για να φτάσω στη κάθαρση
που ο βοριάς
αξίωσε το πτώμα μου
μα όχι πριν
ν’ αμυνθώ το άγιο χώμα
μ’ όπλο
το υπέροχο άρωμα της γαρδένιας

σπάργανα ψαριών γιομάτα φυσαλίδες
και μικρά σφουγγάρια που έσυρα
απ’ το βυθό της θάλασσας
ήταν κι αυτό ένας τρόπος
να εξαγνίσω την ψυχή μου
απ’ όλες τις ατέλειες

~ΔΕΥΤΕΡΗ ΠΑΡΟΥΣΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΔΙΑ, συλλογή εν εξελίξει.
~SECOND ADVENT OF ZEUS, collection in progress.