Manolis' Triptych is published by Ekstasis Editions

Apr 30, 2010 – Ekstasis

Poetry
ISBN 978-1-897430-57-6
116 Pages | $21.95 | 6x9

In his second book from Ekstasis, the Greek emigre poet Manolis switches effortlessly from the real to the dreamlike, the observed to the imagined, composing poetry that is both gentle and piercing. Like a chamber orchestra he plays the abstract qualities of language against its sensuousness and materiality. Triptych is a remarkable follow up to his previous volume Nuances, presenting poems that are seemingly simple but are truly beautiful and dislocating.

Praise for Triptych

A mature and very talented poet, Manolis's words are masterly painted on a canvas of beautiful images. His poetry reveals the observer of life's roots searching for the meaning of beauty and pain, the endless longing of the human heart, a mixture of pleasures and tears. His voice echoes amid the labyrinths of inexplicable senses. Some metaphors in Triptych are like a panel of dreams taken from reality. A must read.

– Eduardo Bettencourt Pinto

What is fascinating in Manolis's new collection of poems is that he presents a landscape where words are deeply rooted in the metaphoric content of his experience. They are engendered by a primal force that weaves meaning out of emotion, memory, and a cultural history that ascends the marble depths of his reason. There can be no rescue in such a landscape: only expression. The reader is left with an unyielding sense that the singularity of his life is re-created and celebrated through the sacrament of being swept away in images charged by his imagination. Ultimately we are all servants of our words, but Manolis has managed to decode the joy, elation, and despairing gaze that as poets we all share. His work in this collection gathers and defines all the voices in all our nights.

– Ilya Tourtidis

About the Author

Manolis was born on the island of Crete in 1947. Educated in Greece with a degree in Political Sciences from the Panteion University in Athens, he later served in the armed forces for two years, and emigrated to Vancouver in 1973. After working as an iron worker, a train laborer, a taxi driver and a stock broker, he retired in 1998. He lives in White Rock where he spends his time traveling, gardening and writing. Late in 2006 he founded Libros Libertad Publishing Ltd., an unorthodox, independent publishing company.

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