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In Vernal Equinox,
his third volume of poetry from Ekstasis, the Greek emigre poet Manolis is at
his most intimately eloquent and passionately exuberant. As with Ovid, as with
Neruda, the quotidian and the ordinary is transcended by Eros. The poems in this
volume are taut, lyrical and informed by a powerful and subtle music, infused
by un-sentimental directness and sensual precision. Working within the domain
of consciously reduced perceptions, Manolis pushes language to its outer edge,
locating the sayable within the shifting tumult of the real. Moment to moment
the poems move through the world, rooted in a dark radiance and a luminous energy,
charged with sensuality and grace. In the deep ground of being, love is woven
through all life, and amorous love is but the tip of a powerful emotion—at
the heart’s core, remains the mysteries of erotic love to which we all owe
our existence. Vernal Equinox is an honest and expansive expression, linked by
passages from Lorca, but imbued by a singular voice that is both candid and instinctive. Book
of tenderness, Vernal Equinox is also the Adam’s apple mythology whirling
in the eyes of the far away lover, the body’s appeal, desire and ardency,
which are the unavoidable delight of carnal fire. Eloquent and sensitive, the
poetry subjects crossing the pages of this book are vivid metaphors of beauty,
poems of a lifetime. I mean: of a mature poet giving to the world a transcendent
memory of the senses on its purest form. ~ Eduardo Bettencourt Pinto
Manolis was born
in the small village Kolibari west of Chania on the Greek island of Crete in 1947.
At a young age his family moved first to Thessaloniki and then to Athens where
he was educated, achieving a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Sciences at
the Panteion University of Athens. He served in the armed forces for two years,
and emigrated to Vancouver in 1973, where he worked in several different jobs
over the years. He attended Simon Fraser University for a year, taking English
Literature in a non-degree program. He has written three novels, a large number
of collections of poetry, which are slowly appearing as published works, various
articles and short stories in Greek as well as in English. After working as an
iron worker, train labourer, taxi driver, and stock broker, he now lives in White
Rock where he spends his time writing, gardening, and traveling. Towards the end
of 2006 he founded Libros Libertad, an unorthodox and independent publishing company
in Surrey BC with the goal of publishing literary books. | |