Poetry Travels with Anna Blasiak and Lisa Kalloo: THE SPIDER by Danae Sioziou, translated by Panagiotis Kechagias and Mania Meziti

Dear Sir,

I watch you from the ceiling,
your coffee requests more sugar.
Something about the clothes and the shoes is off,
you shouldn't have patched up all the holes.
Grab the day like a knife,
the weight of your life keeps growing,
the arrangement with the mirror has been cancelled
and you are turning fat.
Tomorrow I will hang before your nose,
perhaps you could please feed me?

Sincerely,
The Spider


Dear Spider,

just yesterday the owl gave birth in a corner of the attic,
her tasty eggs float in the air.
I haven't learned to drive, to debone fish, to read newspapers.
I have two useless dog teeth and a BB gun.
I have made a deal with the morning coffee,
I respect the decision of the mirror.
I no longer set traps for birds,
each day I head to the river and shoot the waters.

Yours, K.

Danae Sioziou

Translated by Panagiotis Kechagias and Mania Meziti

Poem from Danae Sioziou’s Probable Landscapes / Ενδεχόμενα Τοπία, Versopolis at Ledbury Poetry Festival 2021.

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Danae Sioziou (born 1987) was raised in Germany and Greece. She studied English Studies (BA), Greek and German Studies, Cultural Management (MA) and European History (MSc). Useful Children’s Games and Probable Landscapes was published by Antipodes Editions in 2016. This first poetry collection was awarded both the Writers’ Society ‘Yannis Varveris’ Prize for Young Authors and (ex aequo) the State Literary Prize for New Authors; in 2019 it was published in German by Parasitenpresse, translated by Elena Pallantza and the LEXIS Group. Danae Sioziou was for several years co-editor of the poetry journal ‘Teflon’. Her poetry has been translated into more than ten languages, anthologised (for example by Karen Van Dyck in Austerity Measures, Penguin Books, 2016 and NYRB Books, 2017), and presented at numerous festivals and other events in Greece and abroad. She is a member of Versopolis and of the Book History Hub at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She works as a cultural manager and educator.

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Panagiotis Kechagias (born 1978) is a writer and translator. His first novel Final Warning was published in 2016 by Antipodes publishing house. Among others he has translated Solar Bones by Mike McCormack and Prodigals by Greg Jackson. His work has been featured in many magazines in Greece and abroad and he was a resident in OMI and at Sangam House.

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Mania Meziti (born 1965) is a professional translator and runs the poetry platform poets.gr.

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Photo by Lisa Kalloo

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Check out the Poetry Travels book list on bookshop.org.

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Read previous poems in the Poetry Travels series:

UNTITLED by Johanna Venho, translated by Anselm Hollo

THE KNOWLEDGE OF EVERYTHING by Eleni Cay, translated by the Author

ALIBI by Ewa Brzoza Birk, translated by Anna Blasiak

PATIENCE by Ziba Kirbassi, translated by Stephen Watts

HARLEQUIN by Arjola Zadrima, translated by Vlora Konushevci

SIRENS by Victoria Amelina, translated by Anatoly Kudryavitsky

JOB: A WOMAN by Dominika Lewicka-Klucznik, translated by Anna Blasiak

BAGS by Blerina Rogova Gaxha, translated by Vlora Konushevci

TONGUEFISH by Yolanda Castaño, translated by Keith Payne

WHAT DO YOU NEED by Friederike Mayröcker, translated by Christina Daub

A WORK OF BIOGRAPHY by Max Jacob, translated by Ian Seed

UNTITLED POEM by Ivano Fermini, translated by Ian Seed

AGAINST TRAVEL. FOR DANA by Rachel Levitsky

LIGHT by Vasyl Makhno, translated by Olena Jennings

A MESSAGE FROM THE ISLE OF WIGHT by Wioletta Greg, translated by Maria Jastrzębska and Anna Blasiak

HOME by Nataša Sardžoska, translated by the Author

ONLY THE BEGINNING COUNTS (4) by Jan Baeke, translated by Antoinette Fawcett

*** (RABID WINDS) by Gerður Kristný, translated by Rory McTurk

ANSWER TO THE PRAYERS by Vainius Bakas, translated by Kerry Shawn Keys

AGGRESSOR’S MONOLOGUE by Artūras Valionis, translated by Jura Avizienis

THAT’S ALL by Jurgita Jasponytė, translated by Jura Avizienis

UNTITLED by Linas Umbrasas, translated by Audra Skukauskaitė

FIRST SPRING OF THE WAR by Vytautas Kaziela, translated by Jura Avizienis

A LETTER TO A CHILD by Lina Buidavičiutė, translated by Ada Valaitis

UNTITLED by Aneta Kamińska, translated by Anna Blasiak

TWO LYRICS OF LOVE AND MEMORY by Lina Kostenko, translated by Stephen Komarnyckyj

CROW STUDY by Yuri Andrukhovych, translated by John Hennessy and Ostap Kin

UNTITLED POEM by Serhiy Zhadan, translated by John Hennessy and Ostap Kin

UNTITLED POEM by Ludmila Khersonsky, translated by Maya Chhabra

UNTITLED POEM by Iryna Vikyrchak

From THE ANDROMEDA NEBULA by Anna Gréki, translated by Souheila Haïmiche and Cristina Viti

TEAPOT by Nurduran Duman, translated by Andrew Wessels

IT’S COMING AGAIN by Michael Strunge, translated by Paul Russell Garrett

REPORT FROM ANOTHER CITY by Marcin Niewirowicz, translated by the Author

INTERIOR by Ana Blandiana, translated by Paul Scott Derrick and Viorica Patea

THIS IS LOVE by Joanna Fligiel, translated by Anna Blasiak

REVELATION IN H&M by Menno Wigman, translated by David Colmer

*** (I WANT TO FOLD THIS DAY) by Inga Pizāne, translated by Jayde Will

THE SIEGE by Marcin Świetlicki, translated by Elżbieta Wójcik-Leese

FISH by Jana Putrle Srdić, translated by Barbara Jurša

THE WELL by Maarja Pärtna, translated by Jayde Will

THE SHADOW by Pentti Saarikoski, translated by Emily Jeremiah and Fleur Jeremiah

A FAREWELL TO MY DEAD CLASS by Irit Amiel, translated by Anna Blasiak and Marta Dziurosz

THE GIRLS IN BERGEN-BELSEN by Nora Gomringer, translated by Annie Rutherford

DECEMBER, by Jaume Subirana, translated by Christopher Whyte

ROSE RED, by Ulrike Almut Sandig, translated by Karen Leeder

*** (I D[R]IPPED MY PEN…) by Mario Martín Gijón, translated by Terence Dooley

WHAT COMES by Magda Cârneci, translated by Adam J. Sorkin and Mădălina Bănucu

TRANSLATION by Justyna Bargielska, translated by Maria Jastrzębska

*** (MY EYES, DENSE NIGHT…) by Gëzim Hajdari, translated by Ian S