‘Delirium for the Four Legs of a Love’ by Dimitris Athinakis (trans. Karen Emmerich)

Posted on by Joseph M. Gerace

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I see your yesses coming from afar
and my own, like candles,
brandish
and burn
awaiting the centuries

A strong wind
carries off my hat my glasses my tattoo my arm
        carries off
my leg and an eye

       [I'm left there smiling before jets
        gushing the joy of nothingness]

joy —
 it too alone

Stay, if you want, by my side
— even if no one understands us

        [Why let that, too, smother us]

Just let it flow
let time
the wine
the smoke
flow

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Source:

  • Athinakis, Dimitris. “Delirium for the Four Legs of a Love.” Translated by Karen Emmerich. Austerity Measures: The New Greek Poetry, edited by Karen Van Dyck, New York: New York Review of Books, 2016, p. 11.

Additional reading:

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