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Two modern Greek poets
translated by Dean Kostos
ΘΑΛΑΣΣΙΝΟ ΚΡΑΣΙΝίκος Αντωνάκος I Στούς κύκλους Νά πιείς II Τροχίζει ό ήλιος ούρανό Κι έσύ στήν πέτρα III Κάτω άπ’ τό ψάθινο γέλιο IV Δούρειος V ’Αμυλο τών σταχυών της VI Στίς δήλες τών ματιών |
Sea Wineby Nikos Antonakos I In the circles To drink II The sun sharpens the sky And you in the stone III Under her straw smile IV Trojan V In silent shafts of wheat VI In the sheen of her eyes |
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ΣΤΟ ΦΕΓΓΑΡΙΚώστας Ταχτσής Φεγγάρι μου |
To The Moonby Kostas Tachtses My moon |
Translator’s note: This poem begins with the Demotic word for moon and concludes with the word in Katharevousa, which I have italicized. There is no equivalent in English.
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ΑΓΑΠΗΚώστας Ταχτσής Θά έξορύξω καί θά πιώ τά μάτια |
Loveby Kostas Tachtses I will pluck out and drink your eyes |
Nikos Antonakos was a filmmaker, poet, and journalist and a devoted member of the Greek Communist Party. He died of a heart attack two years ago while he was giving a speech about another Greek poet, the great Yannis Ritsos.
Kostas Tachtses’s only novel, To trito stefani (The Third Wedding, 1962) was a bestseller, and is still widely read. He was openly homosexual and a transvestite, and fought for gay rights and the rights of prostitutes. He was murdered in 1988.
Dean Kostos’s books include: Last Supper of the Senses, The Sentence That Ends with a Comma, and Celestial Rust. He was the editor of Pomegranate Seeds: An Anthology of Greek-American Poetry and the coeditor of Mama’s Boy: Gay Men Write about Their Mothers. His poems have appeared in Western Humanities Review, Boulevard, Southwest Review, Chelsea, Stand Magazine, The Cincinnati Review, and elsewhere. He has taught at The City University of New York, The Gallatin School of New York University, Wesleyan, Columbia University’s School of Journalism, and elsewhere.
qarrtsiluni 