Poems

by Miltos Sachtouris, Karen Emmerich (Translator)

Poems (1945–1971), first published in 1978 and now in its eighth edition in Greece, contains work from the nine volumes Miltos Sachtouris wrote during the most productive period of his poetic career. The first of these volumes was written during the Axis occupation of Greece, and the last was published thirty years later during the military junta of 1967–74. Part poetic auto- biography, part historical document, this collection thus chronicles one writer’s reaction to three decades of intense social and political upheaval in a nation experiencing the successive horrors of occupation, civil war, and military dictatorship. Evocative and deeply moving, Sachtouris’s poetry builds up, block by linguistic block, an unforgettable vision that speaks even to those who inhabit worlds different and distant from his own.

Genres: Poetry, Greece

235 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Miltos Sachtouris (1919- 2005) was born in Athens and is one of the most important Greek poets of the post-War period.

Sachtouris studied law, but abandoned legal practice early, in order to devote himself to writing.

Sachtouris received the Second National Poetry Award in 1962 for "Ta Stigmata," the First National Poetry Award in 1987, the Order of the Phoenix in 1995, and the Grand State Literature Prize in 2003 for his collected works.

The rejection of a decorative use of poetic language, and the greatest possible condensing as a permanent method for creating style are two elements that accompany Miltos Sachtouris in most of his collections. Things and their uses are described with relative fidelity, poetic action is enhanced thanks to a quick succession of images-episodes, whilst the descriptive part of the narration (space layout, details about the elements that demarcate it) is minimised to the lowest possible degree.

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

what can i say? one of the best poets i've ever read. So on-key it's hard not to sing along. They are just right on:

Love slipped through your fingers
and dropped
into a glass of blood
rolled
into a darkened mirror
a terrible rain
beat down on it
then it vanished into a forest
full
of shadows
of songs
of birds

It's morose and heavy without being bleak and depressing. It is full of voice rather than being hollow. It is sad, impressively sad, provocatively sad, intensely saddddddddddd:

They had set a head of clay
on the table
they had dressed the walls
wiht flowers
on the bed lay two erotic bodies
cut from paper
on the floor roamed snakes
and butterflies
a large dog kept watch
from the corner

Cords crossed the room from all
sides
it would have been
unwise to pull them
one of the cords pushed the bodies
into love

Outside unhappiness
clawed at the doors

or

Night
in a pharmacy
a kneeling
horse
eats
the floorboards
a girl
with a strange
green burn
is treated
while
the phantom
cries
hopeless
in the corner

He is always called a wartime poet, because of the strife in his country and the travesties he saw. And yes, this has it's place in his poetry. But inevitably, he is a pure observationist. This might be a stilted coldness from trauma-induced projection, sure. But that's not the point. He is not Erich Maria Remarque. He's more like a less sadistic, more innocent version of the Butcher Boy:

When the rusted door swung open like a theater curtain
it groaned
like a rotten ship in an evil harbor
the girl's face appeared deluded
in the sweet smell of fire and smoke
her voice
like a darkened cinema
appeared deluded
and I
a shirt hanging in the wind in the midst
of that turmoil
was preparing to fly

the girl
a lively flower
a burning flower
a beautiful monster
with an upside-down mouth
eyes
eyebrows
a beautiful monster
chiming
like a magic clock
on this magical evening

at last
night advanced
the girl shattered in the mirror
later
they appeared again
my face
her face
huge
distorted
fierce and bloody

like the cinema

At the heart, he's an abused soul with the freshness of a child. That's why it can be simple, without ostentation, and still survive as phenomenal poetry. It's like a young lover learning language. It kills him; and he doesn't even know it's happening:

It drops down through the cloud and rain
and glides like a phantom over the houses
people in the streets shout at it bird bird of rain
it never stops for if it stopped
thousands of scattered fingers would point at it
because it's a harsh bird baptized in blood
diving enraged toward the city falling with the rain
and with its beautiful femal eye

That's why the women are alarmed when they see it
some hide it in their mirrors
others in deep drawers
others deep in their bodies
so it doesn't show
and the men who caress them at night never
see it
nor in the mornings as the women dress
before the mirror
because it's a very bitter bird very glossy
very afraid

ahh!

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, a new collection of poems by the Greek Surrealist Miltos Sachtouris is available. He is a brilliant poet, and this book does him justice. If anyone is interested in Greek Surrealism beyond "the big three" Greek poets often discussed (Elytis, Seferis, and Ritsos), Sachtouris is the place to start. "Surrealism from me from many things," he once remarked. He lived a private, rather Kafkaesque existence in a small apartment in Athens and devoted his life to poetry and Surrealism. Archipelago Books, as always, did a marvelous job in production.

[Nektaria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Δεν πιστεύω ότι έκανα τόσο καιρό να πάρω στα χέρια μου μια συλλογή με ποιήματα του Σαχτούρη! Μου φάνηκαν τελικά από τα πιο όμορφα ελληνικά ποιήματα. Στίχοι που σε στοιχειώνουν με το πόσο απελπισμένα συναισθήματα εκφράζουν αλλά ταυτόχρονα είναι απλά τόσο, τόσο όμορφοι και "βυθίζεσαι" μεσα τους. Κέρδισε τη θέση του ανάμεσα στους αγαπημένους μου ποιητές.

[Cody Stetzel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sachtouris’ work seems gated by some inane and unimaginative ideas of women; yet much else of his work is riddling with emotionally evocative singular lines and moments.

[Sarah]

Over my head.

[Fitch Perkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

He is very talented and the translation seems excellent. For me personally it is a bit too bleak and depressing, but I also understand that’s a lot of the point of his work.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes I pick up a book and know I'll enjoy it before I've begun. This was the case with Poems by Miltos Sachtouris. Set against the occupation, civil war and dictatorship that plagued Greece from the 1930's to 1970's, the poems are predominantly very brief, teeming with recurring images and alternately surreal and realistic. By turns, Sachtouris paints broad pictures of the horrors of the immediate history that surrounded him and relishes the slices of light, both real and imagined, that kept him from being consumed by despair. An excellent collection.

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

A chronicle of social and political unrest. Evocative and thought provoking.

[Dean Kostos]

Lapidary and gripping.