poems or, the cat o' nine tails

poems

to define the vastness of the snow
with four strokes of a pencil
to confine thousands of crystal deer
within grave-looking walls
surely it’s not advisable
to converse with a clock
its adherence to the rules of punctuation
deadens my word untimely
and a wall is always a wall
(we shouldn’t ignore the obvious)
yet if we demolish it
what shall we plant on its roots
our nature abhors the vacuum
nocturnal phantoms may come
and squat in the empty space
the alphabet reversed
the cat o’ nine tails
and the lame cobbler
who makes only left boots
with unlimited sexual arrogance
will seduce our women

poems
a poem from the collection “The Solar Bicycle”
(Ηλιακό Ποδήλατο)
(the English version)
©Vasilis Polyzos 2003

εικόνα
Emilius
μια ζωγραφιά του Βασίλη Πολύζου
2009

Vasilis Polyzos: The Solar Bicycle / floating butterflies

floating butterflies
with a gentle puff of breath


hőr! das Glockenspiel!

others have died after all
we are still alive
and what is more
our old photos have forgotten us
so we are free to write
little ballads
on the retina of the flowers

of course there’s nothing wrong
if you are unable to tell
one Chinese from another
despite your constant travels
through yellow woods
through muddy rice-bowls
or now and then along
the wolf-tracks of Albania in buskins

quid?
quid?
quid?

 now that are past and gone
all venerable trades
e.g. the troubadours
the rhapsodists
the mounted poets?

will the visigoths be summoned
for the parade
along the Data Avenue
under the arches of triumph?

anyway
even for the deceased it has been said
that their hair keeps growing
all their lifetime in grave
with the exception of the judge
who was buried wearing his wig
honoris causa


floating butterflies
a poem from the collection
The Solar Bicycle
(Ηλιακό Ποδήλατο)
© Βασίλης Πολύζος 2003

QUID?
an image by Vasilis Polyzos
2014

Alfama

Alfama
by Vasilis Polyzos

at the crack of dawn
the bells still held
the angel
hidden under their tongues
the empty flowerpots
sweet basil in their memories
alleys of the codfish
paved with amber and ivory
and these exquisite silks
of the spider
just touching fleetingly
your eyelids
before the beggars of the castle
start on their rounds
their hats brimming
with blessings and curses
and the Tejo spellbound
in the magic of fados
ere the sun wakes him
by emptying a pitcher
of vinho verde
upon his face
at this hour
(you mused)
will be leaving
her ephemeral lover’s bed
Maria Consuelo Assunsion
demi - mermaid
demi –haze
her heavy plaits
(gold red brush-strokes
by Titian)
flowing down to her knees
the marks of south wind
on her nape
in days gone by you wrote
on her open carnation flowers
the song of songs
with your lips

Alfama
by Vasilis Polyzos
From the Collection Ηλιακό Ποδήλατο
(The Solar Bicycle)
published by METAIXMIO, 2003, Athens
translated into English by the Author, 2004

Maria Consuelo Assunsion,
an image by Vasilis Polyzos 2008