Anthony Psaltis
My fake
Kukutsi ed., 2022, p. 58

With her fifth book (including participation in collective work), Larisa is a poet Anthony Psaltis (1977), who translated epigrams from the Palatine Anthology and Hölderlin, stabilizes his choice. The peculiar poetic instinct is just as noticeable as the hardships from which he seems unwilling to get rid of. Thus, the book under discussion is a typical wonderful little poetry: material, inventiveness, light play on words, purposeful economy and, at the same time, strict targeting, self-discipline, which fertilize ambitious results, are visible. missing. Like all good minors, Psaltis gives favorite verses and verses that we leave completely aside. The book, part autobiographical, part historical-political commentary, begins with a sharp statement of intent, as if read by a confessional narrator: “Oh, you! where you distort the language / like this: with grammars, huge / syntaxes, please don’t tyrannize me; / my contemplative desire for silence, / mark everything, and now / don’t think again. this is enough for me: / I wrapped myself (and exist) in / a ballad about an unexpected beginning.

The numbered titles of the composition build their parallel, stimulating the narrative. As if the poet is saying, breaking his voice in two: “and if you are not convinced by my fake as such, I also have a plan B, my titles.” I quote the truth for my own sake: “a ballad about an unexpected beginning / a nickname (grandfather Anthony) / an emergency report / “turn the Dracopoulos estate into a park” (grandfather Kostas) / Paul Lafargue’s right to laziness / a small radio (grandmother Elizabeth) / Nietzsche for poets / our teacher Gerasim Vokos / Beckett and language (I) / Mei, Kostas and the cat Rule, who returned to infinity / measurement of blood [ωραίο ποιητολογικό ποίημα!]/ Greece is not only Athens / in short, I write not when there is time, but in its exile / a history that is being written again / Beckett and language (II) / in a whisper / from the “Epoch” by Manolis Anagnostakis / post-war (grandmother Vasso) / self-photo on the touch screen / cigarette on the balcony (father Thanasis) / my fake / what will happen to this child (mother Mirto) / ballad about the precious scarecrow.

In the body of poetry, the most convincing identification of the defiantly, so to speak, historicized and politicized poetic “I” is still made not with the help of ideas, but – as in Greek! any other identifying reference. A speaking voice brings a close family onto the stage: mom, dad, grandparents on both sides. This is certainly a strong cultural hallmark of our modern Greek times, as has been noted in relevant scholarly and public debates.

In the poetry of the Psaltis, for example, c. and in Amanatidis and Apergis this element is evident and prompts us to think. Although he tries to sublimely refer to heavy philosophy and science, the reader primarily enjoys the inimitable Kariotakis, which Psaltis carries in his pocket (in his attempts to echo Kariotakis, many have given and still give modest results). An example is the following lines from A History Being Rewritten, which, in my opinion, would ideally complete the collection: “at the end of the story / a middle-aged young man / googled some site / with job advertisements; / went to the notes, type: / no hope / and click the “Submit” button.