Panos Kyparissis [Greece]

 

In Perpetuity
 
Words preserve what is real
and when that is missing
the word persists
just as the blood precedes the slaughter
and still it remains
a hard coin at face value
 
How many bandages to change
not a single signal in the insatiable market
with the present tense speaking in ellipses
and beauty
mutilated from one landmine to the next
 
What vein of silence will open some day
with a song of obligation
for those forsaken ones
who kneel on the ground in sorrow
 
 
Desire
 
Ineffable nakedness, temptations
red blossoms blooming
in the gardens of your body
 
Slaughterhouses of eros, sick
with deaths unmourned
until they ascend
on their winged horses
 
Your hair rustles in the wind
laughing on your shoulders
falling asleep against the Night’s throat
in the blackness of the starlit sky

 
 
Procedure
 
Eyes still stinging
where the needles dug in
and detail, that tenacious beast
barking at you
 
Distant memories
open windows onto absence
 
Journeys of the body
within itself
with hope fading in and out of your ears
 
Immaculate futility
consumes you with its fair grammar
as though you never learned when and how
leaves fall in silence

 
Author’s Bionote:

 *Panos Kyparissis was born in the Oxya community of Ioannina in Greece. He studied Mathematics and Philology at the University of Athens and Theatre at the Greek Art Theatre Drama School of Karolos Koun. He has worked as an actor and director in theatre, television, and film. He was also employed as a Secondary Education teacher of Philology and Mathematics for over a decade. For eight years, he worked as a drama instructor for the schools of “Veakis”, “New Hellenic Theatre - Giorgos Armenis” and “Delos - Dimitra Hatoupi”. Panos Kyparissis writes poetry, essays and translates dramatic literature. His work has been translated into several languages. In 2014, he received the Greek State National Poetry Prize for his book “Valuables”, and the first prize of the International Documentary Film Festival of Ierapetra for his film “Ioannina of Contemplation and Legend”.