Comments & Greek artists, modern Greek artists: The Night is in my Interest...

the night is in my interest.
First of all, it reduces ambition; moreover,
it corrects thoughts; then,
it collects the grief and makes it more bearable...

Nikos Karouzos

Suspension

In the sky, possibilities
are naught but thrilling.
As I was hanging in the air
holding on to a pure white cloud
on a mythic screen of the imagination,
I observed the quotations
of the elements of my blood
and heard a dazzling musical act
practically non-human
on the left of the geographical map
at the point at which Mt. Terror lies
always wreathed in lightning
and blinding storms.
I went up there once.
There I first heard the song
that said: we belong to water.
And on the other side Ecclesiastes shined.
For some time now I’ve known that the blood
contains all the mystery
which is given through signs
to the human mind, and complete discontinuity.
The circulation perhaps?
queried the brilliant pathologist.
And suddenly
Leonardo came to mind
who knew what exquisite information derives from the body.


Nikos Karouzos (1926-1990)

The Night is in my Interest

Indeed the night is in my interest.
First of all, it reduces ambition; moreover,
it corrects thoughts; then,
it collects the grief and makes it more bearable;
it dissects the silence with respect; in the gardens
it stresses smell,
but above all, night envelops.

Comments & Greek artists, contemporary Greek artists: Joy of night, oh sonorous lights...

Greek poets & Greek artists, modern Geek artists, painters


Yannis Stavrou, Nocturnal, oil on canvas

Time approaches visions
on tiptoe...

Nikos Karouzos

Poem on a Tape Recorder

Joy of night, oh sonorous lights,
marvelous evening
the colored noise of the city
divided up my loneliness, sometimes yellow,
orange, blue, and now red
dyeing my gait pure green.
Love had white marks.
Stop. Rewind.
The turmoil bore the white marks of the world.
The clouds invisible.
No.
The angel radiates like marble
in the deserts of the moon, in the honeysuckle white
death is duped and the night
is amused with shooting stars.
No, no.
Time approaches visions
on tiptoe.
Greed!
I should have further submerged
the grief within my soul.
No.
The cricket ornaments expanses.
The night comes down the stairway of darkness
sits on the passion of Mary.
All alone the busts breathe in the gardens.
Stop. Everything is erased.
I want to escape from words.
I’m sick of it.
Better it would be to listen to what on the next balcony
two perennial old ladies are saying;
sitting there by the hour.

Comments & Greek painting, Greek artists: wouldn’t it have been better if you dreamt on all fours?

Greek poets & Greek artists, Greek painters


Yannis Stavrou, Olive Grove in Attica, oil on canvas

Home erectus, remote starting point of the Iliad,
wouldn’t it have been better if you dreamt on all fours?

Nikos Karouzos

The Night is in my Interest

Indeed the night is in my interest.
First of all, it reduces ambition; moreover,
it corrects thoughts; then,
it collects the grief and makes it more bearable;
it dissects the silence with respect; in the gardens
it stresses smell,
but above all, night envelops.


Nikos Karouzos (1926-1990)

The Second Death

Home erectus, remote starting point of the Iliad,
wouldn’t it have been better if you dreamt on all fours?
Wasn’t the nightingale enough for you as it prayed
among the aphrodiasic branches of the trees?
What the hell did you want with the wanton Ode of the poet
in his bitter and blood-shattered guts?
Now you lose beauty twice
in a horrible uprooting, howling about life and art.
Ah mother what a tumbling down to grandeur . . .
It must have been the savage erection I reflect
which gave you oh homo erectus the feeling
of standing upright in this world.