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A Knock on a Door
A Knock on a Door is the debut collection of poetry from Christos Kallis. It demonstrates great flexibility of style, experimental touches and eccentric twists. The poems range from the abstract to the lyrical, from explorations of religion to love and the human condition.
37 pages, Paperback
First published June 30, 2014
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About the author
Christos Kallis
2 books3 followersChristos Kallis was born in Larnaca, Cyprus in 1993. His debut collection of poetry, A Knock on a Door was written with great flexibility of style and experimental touches and eccentric twists. At the age of eighteen he abandoned the role of the student to serve in the military service of his beautiful island. In losing that duty, he lost his romantic sensitivity, a feature most apparent in this collection, and in return gained a more truthful insight of modern life.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 16, 2014
I do not read poetry very often. I read A Knock on a Door at least five times. Each time I felt a flint from the wall of my heart fly off.
The author, Christos Kallis, explains what he has done in this book in his Author's Note at the beginning of the book. Among many insightful comments, he writes that he wants to leave the reader "dismantled and disarmed." In my case, he succeeded. With each re-reading, I found myself progressively dismantled. It was a dismantling of my logical processes. I had to read the book not with my mind, but with my heart. A Knock on the Door reminded me of the wall I had constructed to protect my emotions.
These poems, like much poetry, do not necessarily make sense immediately, even heart sense, to a reader until he spends time with them, in my opinion. These are poetic expressions personal for the author, but he masterfully pulls the reader in, first with archetypes and universal contradictions, and then he splays him or her with each re-reading until nakedness feels entirely comfortable.
I was grateful for the Author's Note. It gave me a feeling of being grounded when I might find myself lost in a particular poem. I found that I could read the Author's Note again, and then the poem would open for me. In some cases, it opened me up.
This is a young author with a big talent. I don't feel I am qualified to judge poetry, but I do have a sense that Christos Kallis has a life ahead full of potential to make important impacts on people, and that some of this will come from his writing. I look forward to seeing more of his work.
The author, Christos Kallis, explains what he has done in this book in his Author's Note at the beginning of the book. Among many insightful comments, he writes that he wants to leave the reader "dismantled and disarmed." In my case, he succeeded. With each re-reading, I found myself progressively dismantled. It was a dismantling of my logical processes. I had to read the book not with my mind, but with my heart. A Knock on the Door reminded me of the wall I had constructed to protect my emotions.
These poems, like much poetry, do not necessarily make sense immediately, even heart sense, to a reader until he spends time with them, in my opinion. These are poetic expressions personal for the author, but he masterfully pulls the reader in, first with archetypes and universal contradictions, and then he splays him or her with each re-reading until nakedness feels entirely comfortable.
I was grateful for the Author's Note. It gave me a feeling of being grounded when I might find myself lost in a particular poem. I found that I could read the Author's Note again, and then the poem would open for me. In some cases, it opened me up.
This is a young author with a big talent. I don't feel I am qualified to judge poetry, but I do have a sense that Christos Kallis has a life ahead full of potential to make important impacts on people, and that some of this will come from his writing. I look forward to seeing more of his work.
December 2, 2014
A Knock on a Door is a poetry book in which the poet was able to conjure up a collection of poems that will make you think, and are imbued with deep thoughts, albeit also sprinkled with irony and sarcasm. The words are used in a free verse style that is easy to read, for example: "The black rose kept falling from my hands, I had to sacrifice its beauty to reach that victorious peak" from the poem entitled An Apple. Two of my favorites are A letter to Aeschylus and A Million Dollar Smile - "There amongst the chaos and behind her ribs, A beast sat passively in its lair." Excellent use of figurative language and vivid imagery. Great job, and I will be looking for the next poetry book from Mr. Kallis.
November 30, 2014
All in all if you're looking for well-written, edgy but yet something with roots, poetry book. well definitely I can't recommend this book enough for you.
my review based on a reader & poetry lover opinion, I'm not an expert nor a critic.
Christos Kallis has an ability to depict some verses like a play's vivid scenes. like you are watching instead of reading the verses.
in the general atmosphere of the book there's
an epic, ambiguity and a kind of historical concern feelings.
it's safe to say it's a look on modern life through historical perspective.
I see it as mature book with a heavy glance of awareness of life, for sure it's not a bad thing but the writer is young,
and more youthful than some of the poems.
if there's something missing in the book. I'll say it would be a funny poem about a foolish act of boyhood.
I feel military service changed his outlook in a way or another.
I think that the poems were written in spaced times,
I noticed a change in style in the construction of one of the poems.
There is also an extreme shifts from thing to its opposite
we can notice it in "An Apple" to "The last night".
dedication was "FOR ALL THE HOPELESS ROMANTICS"
I think there's kind of innuendo irony, because it does not fit for romantic tearful people. a lot of truth and maturity that without doubt poetry lovers will appreciate.
was written with a lot of flexibility and spontaneous/natural flow, but at the same time, the poems were not tough or
stilted. it was written with Challenging Ease language.
There is no doubt that the book is to keep within your personal books collection to reread it from time to time,
To rediscover realistic characters may have been associated with you in a way or another.
I loved it so much and without doubt I'll be waiting eagerly for the second book, to find out what it will hold of
developments and diversity in poems. I wish all the best for the writer and all the fun for those who will read "A knock on A door."
my review based on a reader & poetry lover opinion, I'm not an expert nor a critic.
Christos Kallis has an ability to depict some verses like a play's vivid scenes. like you are watching instead of reading the verses.
in the general atmosphere of the book there's
an epic, ambiguity and a kind of historical concern feelings.
it's safe to say it's a look on modern life through historical perspective.
I see it as mature book with a heavy glance of awareness of life, for sure it's not a bad thing but the writer is young,
and more youthful than some of the poems.
if there's something missing in the book. I'll say it would be a funny poem about a foolish act of boyhood.
I feel military service changed his outlook in a way or another.
I think that the poems were written in spaced times,
I noticed a change in style in the construction of one of the poems.
There is also an extreme shifts from thing to its opposite
we can notice it in "An Apple" to "The last night".
dedication was "FOR ALL THE HOPELESS ROMANTICS"
I think there's kind of innuendo irony, because it does not fit for romantic tearful people. a lot of truth and maturity that without doubt poetry lovers will appreciate.
was written with a lot of flexibility and spontaneous/natural flow, but at the same time, the poems were not tough or
stilted. it was written with Challenging Ease language.
There is no doubt that the book is to keep within your personal books collection to reread it from time to time,
To rediscover realistic characters may have been associated with you in a way or another.
I loved it so much and without doubt I'll be waiting eagerly for the second book, to find out what it will hold of
developments and diversity in poems. I wish all the best for the writer and all the fun for those who will read "A knock on A door."
January 11, 2015
Reading poetry is one of those things that not many will take the time to do, and in not doing so those readers are missing out, in this case, on a collection of poems that will touch everyone in some way.
Unlike many collections which tend to wax lyrical about the beauty of love, life and nature this collection does none of those things. It is extremely well written and aimed at disarming the reader and making them confront the emotions the poems evoke when read. The poems themselves were easy to read, and if I happened to get lost in a poem a quick read back through the Authors notes would help set me back on track, and get into my groove again.
Although this is poetry, the poems themselves read like fiction. They flowed, contained characters, had twists and turns and made me think; I mean really think. The reason for my 4 thumbs review is that there just were not enough of these poems and, as I closed the book on the last one I felt at a loss as to what I should do; so I picked up the book and started reading it again.
This is short review, as I feel that to do the collection any justice at all the best thing I can say is that if you only read one book of poetry this year, make sure this is the one. I highly recommend this book to everyone and will be eagerly awaiting the next collection this poet releases.
Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2015/01/09...
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Unlike many collections which tend to wax lyrical about the beauty of love, life and nature this collection does none of those things. It is extremely well written and aimed at disarming the reader and making them confront the emotions the poems evoke when read. The poems themselves were easy to read, and if I happened to get lost in a poem a quick read back through the Authors notes would help set me back on track, and get into my groove again.
Although this is poetry, the poems themselves read like fiction. They flowed, contained characters, had twists and turns and made me think; I mean really think. The reason for my 4 thumbs review is that there just were not enough of these poems and, as I closed the book on the last one I felt at a loss as to what I should do; so I picked up the book and started reading it again.
This is short review, as I feel that to do the collection any justice at all the best thing I can say is that if you only read one book of poetry this year, make sure this is the one. I highly recommend this book to everyone and will be eagerly awaiting the next collection this poet releases.
Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2015/01/09...
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
November 29, 2014
Put on your thinking cap. My favorite The last night & A Cloud and then an Atlas.
I truly enjoyed the last 1 31st of April. Does he have the best that Bill Gates has to offer, or better yet the biggest football size scoreboard in the whole wide universe?
A very awesome book cover, great font & writing style. 12 very well written delightful types’ of personal poems (prose) (book). They were all very easy to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of unique characters to keep track of. A very easy rating of 5 stars for all of them.
Thank you for the free book (Author)
Tony Parsons MSW (Washburn)
I truly enjoyed the last 1 31st of April. Does he have the best that Bill Gates has to offer, or better yet the biggest football size scoreboard in the whole wide universe?
A very awesome book cover, great font & writing style. 12 very well written delightful types’ of personal poems (prose) (book). They were all very easy to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of unique characters to keep track of. A very easy rating of 5 stars for all of them.
Thank you for the free book (Author)
Tony Parsons MSW (Washburn)
December 1, 2014
I found this to be a wonderful collection of poems. The poems are abstract with an ambiguous edge, expressive without being formulaic. There are several lines within each individual poem undoubtedly striking the reader. The collection ranges from a artsy senseless to sensual. No doubt Kallis holds promise. Contemporary with a rogue feel, sparking your interest
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews