Signed by the Author
Paperback 5.5 x 8.5 in
106 pages
ISBN: 9780981073569
$14.95
praise
“Impulses conjures a mosaic of old world images, tiled with colours and dilemmas from the present. Manolis ransacks his classical Greek roots and the cosmopolitan now, to unearth some meaning for his modern existence. He wrestles with such timeless subjects as the value of human life, innocence and aging. These poems move with contrasting moods, as eroticism is juxtaposed with isolation, and intimacy is wedged between dark humour and sheer outrage.”
– Apryl Leaf
“Sometimes words are ghosts dancing with myth and memory. Greek-Canadian poet Manolis, demonstrates this in Impulses, his new collection of poems. His poetry springs from a congenital intimacy with a culture and its history. In essence, we are before a poetic glance that is also a revolving metaphor encircling feelings from a Mediterranean philosophy. Poets tend to be witnesses of paradoxes. In recreating them it’s not a compromise between logic and rational; it’s an absolute nouveau reality. With this new book, Manolis tells us that poetry is an affirmation of the soul, a witness for the dream. Fine poetry, there is.”
– Eduardo Bettencourt Pinto
excerpt
Relief
What a relief spring is over
and the soldiers with their rifles
spouting sunlight through
their barrels left They came
in the midst of April as if there wasn’t
any other way for the spring
to come but with soldiers holding
rifles What a relief frost is over
and the chickadee dreams
on another nest of another chick
or two just another reason for
the red jib to unfurl just another
reason for the white chapel
to be repainted in whitewash
Remote
We looked in the remote chapels
and through the pine needles sieving sunlight
explored the statue’s smooth body
and the rained spider web
we searched in the sigh of rose petals
in starbursts and worm-eaten pages
penned by hallucinating prophets
we hunted in decapitated houses
but we didn’t find God anywhere
and we didn’t discover him in the statue
or touch him in spider webs
recluse talked of God being Dead
and the people danced in the plaza
knowing the recluse’s verdict
Hues
Why stand by your door
piercing the mountain
as if trying to paint it green
on the retinas of your eyes
and the light breeze how can
you paint blind by feel?
To what end do you point
your hand at the ice caped
peaks as if to let them know about
the ghosts never passing by
anymore as if to tell them that
spring is coming soon
when they exude green velvet
when they redress in light hues
.
about the author
Manolis (Emmanuel Aligizakis) is a Greek-Canadian poet and author who has written three novels and numerous collections of poetry. His articles, poems and short stories in both Greek and English have appeared in various magazines and newspapers in Canada, United States, Sweden, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Australia, and Greece. His poetry has been translated into Spanish, Romanian, Swedish, German, Hungarian languages and has been published in book form or in magazines in various countries.
A translation book by Manolis, ‘George Seferis-Collected Poems’ was shortlisted for the Greek National Literary Awards.
Manolis heads Libros Libertad, an unorthodox and independent publishing company that he founded in 2006 with the mission of publishing literary books.
He was recently appointed an honorary instructor and fellow of the International Arts Academy, and awarded a Masters for the Arts in Literature.
More on Manolis Aligizakis
Libros Libertad 