THANASSI HATZOPULOS
Stork pose. Micropreparations
ed.. Fixation, page 229

What is poetry; what is important poetry and what is mediocre; what is the difference between speech and language; how poetry is born; what is the relation of poetry to speech; what is the voice of poetry; what is the real age of the poet. is determined – when he is born, when he reaches adulthood, when he grows old; what is the time of poetic creativity and its relation to the time of professional life; Do poetry and life differ, or is the word and deed confirmed: is poetry cultivated or is it born by itself and the poet is called upon not to interfere with it, to help it come to the surface? The thirty-five-year presence of Thanasis Hatsopoulos in the field of poetry – his first collection “Idiois somasi”, 1986 – is accompanied by a systematic discourse, a constant search, a constant deepening of what and how a poetic act. The third volume of the essay “The Position of the Stork” includes 61 stories, several anecdotes and others published over the past thirty years in various print and electronic media. Its subject matter varies, but poetic texts nevertheless form the basis of this charming work.

Talking about poetry is like losing a bet from the very beginning, because, as the author noted, how to “touch something that cannot be touched, because as soon as you touch it, it is lost or scattered.” To achieve this, Thanasis Hatsopoulos develops an interrogative, exploratory, reflective discourse of the essay. He resorts to metaphors, uses comparisons, tries to draw analogies, taking examples from nature, physics, architecture, medicine, textiles, astronomy, cosmology. And, finally, he manages to conclude in the rhythm of his short texts elusive movements, almost invisible condensations that magically give birth to poetry. It is about cultivating the writing of an essay that, without the suspicion of a poetic phrase, is not far from poetry itself – an essay in its highest mission. Because he makes things – what and how a poetic act – “be as they are.” Or, as the author defines the poetic act, he makes the words “open to the unspoken”, “preserves the movement of the thing.”

The text that gave it its name, The Stork’s Position, shows how Hatzopoulos manages to capture an unexpected emotional charge in his speech, intertwining question with contemplation, reflection with vision. When and how does a poet write? When will he be able to conceive, nurture and resurrect his poetry? This bird, which, in folk and urban mythology, wants to carry newborn babies in its long, narrow beak, this elegant bird, which leans on its outwardly fragile, but actually strong leg, looks down at the universe in half-sleep, always ready to reap a suitable harvest. poetic material, so this bird feeds the writer’s imagination to offer a metaphor for the invisible, incomprehensible and paradoxical process from which poetry is born. Seemingly contradictory, because it is exploratory and at the same time aphoristic, his speech manages to penetrate the shell and observe how “distillation of speech through language” takes place, how “speech is renewed through the wear and tear of everyday life”, like the life of a word, or in other words “writing as freedom of feeling”.