Love-starved Poet

Time to spit it out: 

While you were whiling 

 

Time away trying 

To find those perfect 

 

Fixings to complement 

A charmed life lived 

 

To the fullest, the missing 

Ingredient was always 

 

There on the tip 

Of your tongue, 

 

Salivating. 

 

 

 

Haiku: Making Every Second Count

Short of breath, counting 

Syllables, vocalizing 

How breathless life is.

 

Huuklyeand Cinquor On Going In Circles (Second Time Around)

I’m forever 

 

Being told something 

Like somewhere round 

 

Here is a square peg. 

 

 

Moderator’s comments: If one so wishes to compare the versions, here is the link to the original poem. https://vazambam.blogspot.com/2019/08/huuklyeand-cinquor-on-going-in-circles.html 

 

24 ΧΑΪΚΑΪ

1. 

ΠΑΡΑΞΕΝΗ ΒΡΟΧΗ 

Το σπίτι στάζει 

Μια ασάλευτη σιωπή--

Δεν βγάζω άχνα. 

 

 

2. 

 

ΦΘΙΝΟΠΩΡΙΝΟ 

 

Γυμνό το κορμί 

Τα φύλλα σκορπισμένα 

Πολύχρωμη Γη. 

 

 

3.

 

ΠΑΛΙΟΜΟΔΙΤΙΚΟ  

 

Εν τω μεταξύ 

Τίποτα νεότερο 

Δεν βλέπεις εκει. 

 

 

4. 

 

ΤΕΛΟΣ ΚΑΛΟΚΑΙΡΙΟΥ ΣΤΟ ΧΩΡΙΟ 

 

Τα πρώτα σπίτια 

Βλέπουν τελευταία 

Τα χελιδόνια. 

 

 

5. 

 

ΚΟΙΜΗΤΗΡΙΟ 

 

Γκρίζω τοπίο— 

Τα μαύρα κυπαρίσσια 

Έγιναν στάχτη. 

 

 

6. 

 

ΑΝΤΙΠΕΡΙΣΠΑΣΜΟΣ 

 

Ουχί μελανό— 

Και το χταπόδι γράφει 

Γρίφους στο βυθό. 

 

 

7. 

 

ΨΑΡΟΝΙΑ 

 

Ζωγραφισμένος 

Μωβ ουρανός γεμάτος 

Μαύρες πινελιές. 

 

8. 

 

ΣΕΦΕΡΙΑΝΟΣ ΑΝΕΜΟΣ

 

Στιγμή σταλμένη

Σαν τη στάλα στην άκρη

Της κλάρας που τρέμει.

 

 

9. 

 

ΠΡΑΣΙΝΟ ΟΝΕΙΡΟ 

 

Μια φορά θα δεις 

Λαμπρά τέτοια άλογα— 

Τι θα τους πεις; 

 

 

10. 

 

ΔΥΣΤΟΠΙΚΗ ΠΡΟΒΛΕΨΗ ΚΑΙΡΟΥ 

 

Σήμερα το φως 

Λιγότερο από χτες— 

Αύριο η τρύπα. 

 

 

11. 

 

ΑΣΤΟΧΗ ΜΕΤΑΦΟΡΑ 

 

Η πέννα βρίσκει 

Πάντα το χαρτί περί 

Πού στο τέλος; 

 

 

12. 

 

ΣΤΗΝ ΥΓΕΙΑ ΜΑΣ 

 

Νέο φεγγάρι— 

Περιμένει το παλιό 

Το γιοματάρι. 

 

 

13. 

 

ΚΟΣΜΟΠΟΛΙΤΙΚΑ 

 

Με το έργο μας 

Όλο το παν άφωνο— 

Ποιός μάς δουλεύει; 

 

 

14. 

 

ΤΟ ΝΟΥ ΣΟΥ, ΆΜΥΑΛΕ 

 

Καιρός να σφίξεις 

Τις ξεχαρβαλωμένες 

Φευγάτες χορδές. 

 

 

15. 

 

ΔΥΣΤΟΠΟΣ ΚΗΠΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΕΔΕΜ 

 

Φιδο-φούστανα, 

Σάπια φρούτα στο χώμα

Ύπουλες μιλιές.

 

 

16. 

 

ΤΈΛΟΣ ΠΑΝΤΩΝ 

 

Ασυμφωνία 

Περί ποιός θα ξυρίσει 

Τον σκατογένη. 

 

 

17. 

 

 ΈΤΣΙ ΜΑΣ ΑΡΈΣΕΙ 

 

Κοράκια πάνω 

Σε φρέσκο χωματερό— 

Πίνουνε κάργα. 

 

 

18. 

 

ΕΥΧΗ ΝΑ’ΝΑΙ 

 

Σαν το ποτάμι 

Που δεν γυρίζει πίσω 

Μια καλή αρχή. 

 

 

19. 

 

ΔΙΠΛΗ ΑΠΟΡΙΑ 

 

Δεν ξέρω περί 

Τίνος πρόκειται ούτε 

Ποιός ρωτάει γιατί; 

 

 

20. 

 

ΣΥΜΒΟΛΗ 

 

Αηδόνια κοντά 

Στο ποτάμι κανένας 

Περιττός ήχος. 

 

 

21. 

 

ΗΛΙΘΙΟΣ ΠΡΟΣΑΝΑΤΟΛΙΣΜΟΣ 

 

Ξανά ο ήλιος 

Γέρνει στον ορίζοντα— 

Σαν τι γυρεύει; 

 

 

22. 

 

ΟΜΙΧΛΩΔΗΣ ΤΟΠΙΟ 

 

Με το μαχαίρι 

Κομμένη η ανάσα 

Στα κυπαρίσσια. 

 

 

 23. 

 

ΓΕΡΙΚΗ ΥΠΟΜΟΝΗ 

 

Άναρχη ελιά— 

Στάλα-στάλα το λάδι 

Κατασταλάζει. 

 

 

24. 

 

ΕΡΥΘΡΟ ΔΕΛΤΙΟ 

 

Ριπές στη μάνδρα— 

Τα σημάδια του καιρού 

Σφαίρα στη καρδιά. 

 

 

 

Μελιγαλάς, 20 Γενάρη-12 Φλεβάρη 2021

 

Wayward Words

Well, you do have 

Such a wondrous way

With them—you know, it’s as if 

 

All you have to do is leave them

Alone and before you know it, 

They all come frolicking home

 

With nary a peep, wagging 

Some far-fetched scruffy 

Sheepdog’s tale behind them. 

 

 

 

 

Five Poems From Otoliths, A Magazine Of Many E-Things, #60

 

otoliths

a magazine of many e-things
 
ISSN 1833-623X

20210113

Vassilis Zambaras


FALSE WITNESS TO BIBLIOMANCY


Preoccupied, stupefied 
By all I see before me,
I pick a book I believe

To hold truth; I balance it
On its spine and allow it
To fall open; with eyes closed

I pick a passage 
And let truth flow back
To the future through my fingers
 
Till it blinds me.



COMING UPON A HITHERTO UNKNOWN POEM BY SAPPHO


[deterioration highly evident]

heart frag[mented?] yet
[     ]     
[     ]
[     ]
put together so
[     ]     
[     ]
[lovingly?] 
[     ] 
[     ]  
perfect [that]
nothing could
[     ]
[     ]
[     ]
go to pieces

[rampant moth bites]

[     ]
[     ]
[     ]
forever [like?] 
[     ] that 

[papyrus in fluttering tatters]



CHAINLINK FENCES
—for John Levy

Who writes in a poem
About a drawing why
He liked them as a child
So swell and yet subdued

We can well imagine

Climbing up them even
If our feet are now 
Too large and we 
Too big for our britches.



FROM A LINE OF KANDINSKY’S


blue 

like a snail re
treating in
to its 

sh
el
l

SAMPLE ESL ADVANCED LEVEL COMPOSITION ASSIGNMENTS
                                                            (150-180 WORDS)


Describe a walk your dog enjoyed very early in the morning.


A family with two small children and a dog plan to move from a cottage in the country to a small but modern flat near the town center. What things must they think about before deciding if they are going to make the move? Try to make your writing at once domesticated, rustic and sophisticated.


Write the conversation you have with a very old person who believes that life was more enjoyable when he/she was younger. You disagree about this. Write in dialogue form, giving only the name of each speaker, followed by the words spoken. Do not mention dates or ages.


A British friend has asked you to recommend an author writing in your language whose works he or she would enjoy reading. Write a letter in reply. You should make the beginning and ending like those of an ordinary letter but do not count the address in the number of words. Keep to the subject and avoid flowery language. Contractions count as two words.


Imagine there has been a shocking incident involving indecent people. Describe it using formal language. Be objective as possible.


You have been offered a free ride on a Ferris wheel by a carnival owner. Describe how you would feel upon discovering you are stranded at the top and the wheel is no longer turning. Please do not waffle.



Vassilis Zambaras: b in Greece, returned there after 25 years in the USA; recently retired from teaching ESL at the language school he founded in 1977 in Meligalas. Three small books of poetry: Sentences (Querencia, 1976), Aural (Singing Horse, 1984) and In Credible Evidence, a foldout booklet of poems (Longhouse, 2010). Poems in the anthology How the Net Is Gripped: A Selection of Contemporary American Poetry (Stride, UK, 1992) and Visiting Dr. Williams: Poems Inspired by the Life and Work of William Carlos Williams, (U of Iowa Press, 2011). Appearances in Poetry Salzburg Review, The London Magazine, First Intensity, The Stockholm Review of Literature, Shearsman, Poetry Northwest, The Galway Review etc. Has an unpublished third collection titled The Intricate Evasions of As.

Haiku: Deliverance

Once in a blue moon 

Out into its light at last, 

One with it again.