The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • Ekphrastic Book Shelf
    • Contributors' Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • Workshops
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead

Temptation, by Antonis Balasopoulos (Greek and English)

3/16/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
The Temptation of Saint Anthony, attributed to Michelangelo (Italy) 1488

Ο πειρασμός

Ο πειρασμός είναι μονάχα ένα όνομα
για μια τροπή απρόσμενη στο οπτικό πεδίο:
ο Άγιος ίπταται, στα καλογερικά του,
τα ετεροχρονισμένα μαύρα, έχοντας
αφήσει πίσω του τα βράχια και τ’ άφυλλα
δέντρα που, στον χλωρό νου
της ήπιας υπαίθρου, ειν’ η έρημος,
η αλλόκοτη απομόνωση της Αιγύπτου.
Με μια μετατόπιση τεκτονική, αδιόρατη,
η Τοσκάνη, γαλήνια κι εμπορική,
απλώνει σαν μπουγάδα τη χλωρίδα της
στον Άρνο. Ανάμεσα στα δύο αιωρείται
ο κύκλος του δαιμόνιου, με το πράσινο
της σαύρας, το κόκκινο του βράγχιου,
με λέπια και ακάνθους, πλόκαμους
στο χρώμα του φυκιού, πτερύγια.
Ο ανοιχτός πρωκτός ενός δαίμονα
γυρίζει ανάποδα τη φόδρα του κορμιού
μπροστά στον μαύρο ήλιο:
ολόγυρα, το συγκεχυμένο συντακτικό
της ανατομίας, σελίδες συγγραμμάτων
σε μια συναρμογή που συγκροτεί το τερατώδες,
η πτήση η ίδια αντιφατική
με δεδομένη την καταγωγή του ανόσια ιπτάμενου
στο χθόνιο. 
Στη μέση του στροβίλου,
ο Αντώνιος, χλωμός,
σαν να ’χει μόλις ξυπνήσει από όνειρο,
υπομένει τα επίμονα χτυπήματα του
ασυνειδήτου του, το όργιο χρωμάτων
που σαρκάζει το ράσο του, το παράταιρο όλων
των πραγμάτων, την εισβολή
από το μέλλον του υπερρεαλισμού,
το σύνολο των διαταραχών
που απαιτεί η αγιότητα.

​**

Temptation

Temptation is only a name 
for an unexpected turn in the visual field:
the Saint flies, in his monkish, 
out-of-date black, having
left behind him the rocks and the leafless
trees that, in the green mind
of the mild countryside, is the desert,
the grotesque isolation of Egypt.
With a displacement that is tectonic, invisible,
Tuscany, serene and mercantile,
unfolds its flora on the Arno 
like so much laundry. Between the two, suspended,
lies the cycle of the demonic, with the green
of the lizard, the red of fish gills,
with scales and thorns, tentacles
in the color of seaweed, fins.
The open anus of a demon
turns the lining of the body
inside out before the black sun:
all around, the confused syntax 
of anatomy, pages of treatises
in a splicing that constitutes the monstrous,
flight itself a contradiction
given the descent of the blasphemously avian
in the cthonic. 
In the midst of this whirlpool
Anthony, pale
as if he has just woken from a dream,
bears the persistent beatings
of his unconscious, the orgy of colors
that mocks his cassock, the incongruity
of all things, the invasion
of surrealism from the future--
the sum total of disruptions
that holiness demands.

Antonis Balasopoulos

Antonis Balasopoulos was born in Thessaloniki, Greece in 1970 and is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Cyprus. He has published two volumes of creative prose and aphorisms (Through the Loophole and The Book of Brief Reflections), three poetry collections (Multiplicities of Zero, White on White and The Book of Creatures) and a collection of short fiction (The Cube and Other Stories), all in Greek. He has also translated Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, W.B. Yeats, Louise Glück and Ezra Pound. His poetry, fiction and translations have been published in several printed and online periodicals in Greece, Cyprus and the UK.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    The Ekphrastic Review
    Picture
    Current Prompt
    COOKIES/PRIVACY
    This site uses cookies to deliver your best navigation experience this time and next. Continuing here means you consent to cookies. Thank you.
    Join us on Facebook:
    Picture
    Picture



    ​
    ​Archives
    ​

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Lorette C. Luzajic theekphrasticreview@gmail.com 

  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • Ekphrastic Book Shelf
    • Contributors' Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • Workshops
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead