Missive to friends
By Antonia Gounaropoulou
Translated by Panagiotis Tourikis
Now that we meet deeper in the track
Now that the foregone are shadows, pits in the ground
And it is on us that the loggers advance
To paint red circles on our trunks
Please hide explosions deep in your foliage
And when the blade touches the bark – explode
Blast off the bird nests
The dried leaves
The blanketed green eyes that shan’t bud in spring
Blast high near far and low
To the trunks that grew in your time
And which loggers have stamped next in line
Continue reading "Missive to friends"
The Coverlet
By Antonia Gounaropoulou
Translated by Panagiotis Tourikis
She stood by the door eyeing
the width and length
her mother had given
to the yarn of white.
“Ana Grise”
By Antonia Gounaropoulou
Translated by Panagiotis Tourikis
We translate hospitals
their gates
the dusty trees in parking lots
the wide marble steps of entrances
where gypsies drag their sweeping skirts
and the belated strike their feet
in haste, as when you hope to reach the harbor
just in time to catch the eye
of him on deck, departing.
4d – LONDON: SETTLERS, COCKNEYS, AND THE “CITY TYPE”: THE CASE OF “LITTLE INDIA” – EAST HAM
“Geese”
By Antonia Gounaropoulou
Translated by Panagiotis Tourikis
“The horses! The horses! Kids, come see the horses!”
The kids abandoned their bikes, dropped their stones, marbles and chalks, scurrying to be the first to climb the stairs – and reached the road, there where the wide iron gate would soon be placed and where parents, aunties and uncles had all flocked. Two horses, one white and the other brown, were descending the slope in a light gallop right before their eyes, while a thin ugly boy was running behind in a sweat, cursing with words that kids ought not to hear – though they already had. Continue reading "“Geese”"
“The hunter and the wolf”
By Antonia Gounaropoulou
Translated by Panagiotis Tourikis
There was once a hunter who lived in the wild forests all alone. He didn’t care for the company of humans, he found them all liars, and so had withdrawn from the world. But he also didn’t care for the company of animals, for these he found dumb, and so wouldn’t spend his time with animals either, unless he went hunting.
One afternoon, while the hunter was working his way through dense foliage at the back ridge of the mountain, he found himself directly facing two large, dark eyes staring at him. He dug his feet on the ground and remained still. Right before him there was a wild wolf, the size of a horse, his snout reaching up to the hunter’s face. They stood there for a while eyeing one another, both surprised by the other’s presence, but finally the hunter said: Continue reading "“The hunter and the wolf”"
4c – LONDON: SETTLERS, COCKNEYS, AND THE “CITY TYPE”: THE CASE OF “LITTLE INDIA” – EAST HAM
Antonia Gounaropoulou: “The hunchback”
Translated by Panagiotis Tourikis
Trudging, I gathered sounds with my hands
loading them onto my back:
here a bundle of weeping,
here an old woman
thundering curses,
here urns in a heaviness
of soft lamentation
and quiet pleading.
Upon reaching the black trees
high on the hill,
I was already a hunchback
my nose touching the knee. Continue reading "Antonia Gounaropoulou: “The hunchback”"
Antonia Gounaropoulou: “Hidden in the shadow”
Translated by Panagiotis Tourikis
Hidden in the shadow
beneath a fig tree
the adder’s root.
And all await
the coming of July
the advent of August,
that their hands may stick
of tree, of milk. Continue reading "Antonia Gounaropoulou: “Hidden in the shadow”"
