Cover & Book design: Michael Steven(October 3) Papyri: Love poems & fragments from Sappho & elsewhere. ISBN 978-0-473-12397-0. Auckland: Soapbox Press, 2007. 24 pp. [signed edition of 70 copies].
- When you walked in … (13/1-27/2/07) The Villa of the Papyri (30/3-2/4/07)
- Sappho to Anaktoria (4/8-2/10/06)
- Recipe for Making a Dadaist Poem (4/2/07)
- Ode to Aphrodite (4/2-28/2/07)
- Life among the Surrealists (21-26/11/06; 4/2/07)
- Atthis (13/1-9/2/07)
- Mnasidika (13/1-11/2/07)
- Fragments (22-24/2/07)
- I love magnificence … (13/1-22/2/07)
- Dying is bad … (4/8/06-22/2/07)
- The Moon’s set … (13/1-22/2/07)
- This pretty baby is mine … (13/1-24/2/07)
- Mum, I can’t thread … (13/1-24/2/07)
- Last night you slept on the breast … (13/1-24/2/07)
- We love to hear … (24/2/07)
- To a girl who doesn’t care for poetry (13/1-12/2/07)
- Juicy Root (13/1-27/2/07)
- Virgin (13/1-27/2/07)
- Sappho’s Epithalamion (13/1-10/3/07)
for Bronwyn
These versions after Sappho have been greatly assisted by the literal prose translations included in Mario Meunier's Sappho, Anacréon et Anacréontiques (Paris: Éditions Bernard Grasset, 1932)
I bear-hugged you
having banked up the fires of love …
(13/1-27/2/07)
Publications:
- Papyri: Love poems & fragments from Sappho & elsewhere. ISBN 978-0-473-12397-0 (Auckland: Soapbox Press, 2007).
- Papyri: Love poems & fragments from Sappho & elsewhere (Auckland: Pania Press, 2007).
- Fragments (3). Papyri: Poems, Imitations & Translations. (February 3, 2007 - )
- A Clearer View of the Hinterland: Poems & Sequences 1981-2014. ISBN: 978-0-473-29640-7 (Wellington: HeadworX, 2014): 120.
•
The Villa of the Papyri is a house in Herculaneum, near Naples. Historians believe that it may once have belonged to Julius Caesar’s father-in-law, Lucius Calpurnius Piso. During the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 it was completely covered in lava. Parts of it were excavated in 1765 by Karl Weber, though many sections remain unexplored to the present day. Piso was an historian and a philosopher, who owned an extensive library of papyrus scrolls. It is thought that some attempt was made during the eruption to evacuate these books by packing them into cases and carrying them out through an underground tunnel. The slaves deputed for the task were overtaken by poisonous fumes, however, leaving approximately 1800 papyri as carbonised spills in the lower levels of the villa. Developments in multi-spectral imaging during the 1990s have made it possible to decipher the texts on these burnt scrolls, and a number of appeals have been made to the international scholarly community to expedite the recovery of this largely untouched library from ancient Rome. The treasures within it might include the lost books of Livy’s History of Rome, poems by Sappho and Anakreon, unknown plays by Sophocles and Euripides … The Italian government’s official position is that even modern excavation techniques are not sufficiently advanced to guarantee the scrolls’ safety, and that they are therefore best left where they are at present. Other scholars fear that they are being gradually leached away and destroyed by the floods endemic to the region. Why have these scrolls not yet been dug up and read? What is it the authorities fear about them? Which long-cherished theories and ponderous speculations would they give the lie to? This is possibly the greatest opportunity mankind will ever have to recover the lost literature of classical antiquity, the books and scrolls feared lost forever in the burning of the fabled Library of Alexandria (whose destruction began – coincidentally? – when Julius Caesar set fire to the city’s docks whilst defending his mistress Cleopatra, during a domestic dynastic struggle). Up to now all we’ve been able to recover of Greek and Latin literature – besides the books copied and recopied by medieval monks, or translated into Arabic by Islamic scholars – has been a few fragments of papyri: mostly letters and accounts (with the occasional precious line or two of poetry) preserved in the sunbaked dryness of the Egyptian desert. The treasures of Herculaneum must frighten someone, somewhere, very much indeed for them to have been left to rot in a waterlogged ditch for over two centuries ...
(30/3-2/4/07)
Publications:
- Papyri: Love poems & fragments from Sappho & elsewhere (Auckland: Pania Press, 2007).
- Papyri: Poems, Imitations & Translations. (February 3, 2007 - )
- A Clearer View of the Hinterland: Poems & Sequences 1981-2014. ISBN: 978-0-473-29640-7 (Wellington: HeadworX, 2014): 121-22.
•
Some say the finest sight
on this black earth is men on horses
others foot-soldiers others
fleets of ships
I say
it’s the one you love
How can I make that clear
to you? Helen
who’d watched so many hunks
march by
chose the one
who brought the topless towers down
gave up her children
her home
to follow him
A woman must bend to circumstances
focus on the present with a smile
Anaktoria
you hardly seem
although she’s sitting beside you
to notice her
whom I prefer
to Mayday parades of tanks
goose-stepping infantry
I know that in this life
we can never reach
the pinnacle of our desire
surely it’s better to cherish
what Fate has given us
than to neglect her?
(4/8-2/10/06)
Publications:
- Papyri: Love poems & fragments from Sappho & elsewhere. ISBN 978-0-473-12397-0 (Auckland: Soapbox Press, 2007).
- Papyri: Love poems & fragments from Sappho & elsewhere (Auckland: Pania Press, 2007).
- Papyri: Poems, Imitations & Translations. (February 3, 2007 - )
- A Clearer View of the Hinterland: Poems & Sequences 1981-2014. ISBN: 978-0-473-29640-7 (Wellington: HeadworX, 2014): 123.
Notes:
- Inspired by the literal prose translation in Mario Meunier’s Sappho, Anacréon et Anacréontiques (Paris: Editions Bernard Grasset, 1932): 70-71.
•
Take a newspaper. Take some scissors. Choose from this paper an article of the length you want to make your poem. Cut out the article. Next carefully cut out each of the words that make up this article and put them all in a bag. Shake gently. Next take out each cutting one after the other. Copy conscientiously in the order in which they left the bag. The poem will resemble you. And there you are – an infinitely original author of charming sensibility, even though unappreciated by the vulgar herd. – Tristan Tzara
(4/2/07)
Publications:
- Papyri: Love poems & fragments from Sappho & elsewhere (Auckland: Pania Press, 2007).
- Papyri: Poems, Imitations & Translations. (February 3, 2007 - )
- A Clearer View of the Hinterland: Poems & Sequences 1981-2014. ISBN: 978-0-473-29640-7 (Wellington: HeadworX, 2014): 124.
Notes:
- This “Recipe for Making a Dadaist Poem” is quoted from Mark Polizzotti, Revolution of the Mind: The Life of André Breton (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995) 145.
•
In spite of having poignant Delirium and high surroundings Father your daughter flees Heart bring them back quickly I hear you / Your Zeus Of offering agile That you darken yourself Anxiety of intrigues That which loves you will arrive Because wings must I only accept that For your not you / Who? Run she called Fortunate to to / so well That accomplished the Never heart moment Obtain if sparrows Accomplished earth fullstop Immortal with bitternesses Of gold sky Don’t welcome in Immortal listening Twirling this between again Reason hatching then Suffered from it From the ally leaving Venerable and me The ether-making anguish Aphrodite Face of handsome she All Sappho desires She precipitated Goddess Deliver me
(4/2-28/2/07)
Publications:
- Papyri: Love poems & fragments from Sappho & elsewhere. ISBN 978-0-473-12397-0 (Auckland: Soapbox Press, 2007).
- Papyri: Love poems & fragments from Sappho & elsewhere (Auckland: Pania Press, 2007).
- Papyri: Poems, Imitations & Translations. (February 3, 2007 - )
- A Clearer View of the Hinterland: Poems & Sequences 1981-2014. ISBN: 978-0-473-29640-7 (Wellington: HeadworX, 2014): 124-25.
Notes:
- Inspired by the literal prose translation in Mario Meunier’s Sappho, Anacréon et Anacréontiques (Paris: Editions Bernard Grasset, 1932): 57-58.
•
"In August, René Crevel, twenty-two years old and handsome as a god, had been vacationing with his family on a Norman beach when a young girl fell at his feet and begged him to press geraniums between her breasts.From this moment forbidden ever to see her think of her again"That evening Crevel, the girl, her mother, and an old woman named Madame Dante had sat around a table and held a séance.torpid, alone all evening resist the scented flytraps"Within minutes Crevel had fallen into a deep sleep, during which (as the women told him afterwards) he had uttered remarkable statements.your reward may be at the next café table"But the experiments proceeded no further, as Crevel, still in uniform, had had to return to barracks the next morning."trespass once across that border– Mark Polizzotti, Revolution of the Mind: The life of André Breton (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995), p. 178.& you’re lost
(21-26/11/06; 4/2/07)
Publications:
- Papyri: Love poems & fragments from Sappho & elsewhere (Auckland: Pania Press, 2007).
- Papyri: Poems, Imitations & Translations. (February 3, 2007 - )
- A Clearer View of the Hinterland: Poems & Sequences 1981-2014. ISBN: 978-0-473-29640-7 (Wellington: HeadworX, 2014): 126.
Notes:
- "In August [1922], René Crevel, twenty-two years old and handsome as a god, had been vacationing with his family on a Norman beach when a young girl fell at his feet and begged him to press geraniums between her breasts. That evening Crevel, the girl, her mother, and an old woman named Madame Dante had sat around a table and held a séance. Within minutes Crevel had fallen into a deep sleep, during which (as the women told him afterwards) he had uttered remarkable statements. But the experiments proceeded no further, as Crevel, still in uniform, had had to return to barracks the next morning." - Mark Polizzotti, Revolution of the Mind: The Life of André Breton (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995): 178].
•
Atthis has gone for good this time
I’m sure
I want to die
She left me in floods of tears
sobbing
Sappho, I feel like such a bitch
but I’ve got to go
Go if you want to
I replied
but think of me
remember me
because you know
how much I’ve loved you
will always love you
the joys we’ve shared together
the flowers you brought me
wove round my neck
& in my hair
languid, perfumed
on the couch
when you took away my appetite
for food
(13/1-9/2/07)
Publications:
- Papyri: Love poems & fragments from Sappho & elsewhere. ISBN 978-0-473-12397-0 (Auckland: Soapbox Press, 2007).
- Papyri: Love poems & fragments from Sappho & elsewhere (Auckland: Pania Press, 2007).
- Papyri: Poems, Imitations & Translations. (February 3, 2007 - )
- A Clearer View of the Hinterland: Poems & Sequences 1981-2014. ISBN: 978-0-473-29640-7 (Wellington: HeadworX, 2014): 127.
Notes:
- Inspired by the literal prose translation in Mario Meunier’s Sappho, Anacréon et Anacréontiques (Paris: Editions Bernard Grasset, 1932): 66-67.
•
Atthis, dear to both of us Mnasidika, has moved to Golden Bay but her thoughts are here (she says) like when we lived together & she worshipped you from afar or was that your guitar? Now she outshines those suntanned Nelson girls like the Moon when darkness falls folding her gentle light over yellow fields of rape eclipsing the starscape wandering everywhere the starved heart in her breast grown skinny as her waist while the night with its many ears murmurs across the sea dividing her love from me something we know too well
(13/1-11/2/07)
Publications:
- Papyri: Love poems & fragments from Sappho & elsewhere. ISBN 978-0-473-12397-0 (Auckland: Soapbox Press, 2007).
- Papyri: Love poems & fragments from Sappho & elsewhere (Auckland: Pania Press, 2007).
- Papyri: Poems, Imitations & Translations. (February 3, 2007 - )
- A Clearer View of the Hinterland: Poems & Sequences 1981-2014. ISBN: 978-0-473-29640-7 (Wellington: HeadworX, 2014): 128.
Notes:
- Inspired by the literal prose translation in Mario Meunier’s Sappho, Anacréon et Anacréontiques (Paris: Editions Bernard Grasset, 1932): 68-69.
•
I love magnificence. Love, to me,
is the finest thing under the sun
I suppose that’s why
I wasn’t given beauty
& why the friends I hang out for
backbite me in return
•
Dying is bad. The gods
would die like us
if it were fun
•
The Moon’s set
ditto the Pleiades
it’s midnight
I’m alone
•
This pretty baby is mine
she’s sweet as pollen
Mandy, I wouldn’t give her up
for anything … or anyone
•
– Mum, I can’ t thread
the sewing machine today
I’m mad about
a boy ...
– Again?
•
Last night you slept on the breast
of a young friend …
•
We love to hear
the voices of birds
the day, they say
is freshening
(13/1-22/2/07; 4/8/06-22/2/07; 13/1-22/2/07; 13/1-24/2/07; 13/1-24/2/07; 13/1-24/2/07; 24/2/07))
Publications:
- Papyri: Love poems & fragments from Sappho & elsewhere. ISBN 978-0-473-12397-0 (Auckland: Soapbox Press, 2007).
- Papyri: Love poems & fragments from Sappho & elsewhere (Auckland: Pania Press, 2007).
- Fragments (1) & Fragments (2). Papyri: Poems, Imitations & Translations. (February 3, 2007 - )
- A Clearer View of the Hinterland: Poems & Sequences 1981-2014. ISBN: 978-0-473-29640-7 (Wellington: HeadworX, 2014): 129-30.
Notes:
- Inspired by the literal prose translations in Mario Meunier’s Sappho, Anacréon et Anacréontiques (Paris: Editions Bernard Grasset, 1932): 77c, 77b, 79, 76b, 75, 83, & 87-88.
•
One day they’ll lay you out & then
nothing of you will be left behind
because you don’t like listening to
sweet words in rhythm
you’ll flit
through the houses of dust forever
indistinct among the other shades
(13/1-12/2/07)
Publications:
- Papyri: Love poems & fragments from Sappho & elsewhere. ISBN 978-0-473-12397-0 (Auckland: Soapbox Press, 2007).
- Papyri: Love poems & fragments from Sappho & elsewhere (Auckland: Pania Press, 2007).
- Papyri: Poems, Imitations & Translations. (February 3, 2007 - )
- A Clearer View of the Hinterland: Poems & Sequences 1981-2014. ISBN: 978-0-473-29640-7 (Wellington: HeadworX, 2014): 131.
Notes:
- Inspired by the literal prose translation in Mario Meunier’s Sappho, Anacréon et Anacréontiques (Paris: Editions Bernard Grasset, 1932): 74.
•
Like the sweet apple ripening at the tip of the topmost branch the pickers left behind because they couldn’t reach it (however hard they tried)
(13/1-27/2/07)
Publications:
- Papyri: Love poems & fragments from Sappho & elsewhere. ISBN 978-0-473-12397-0 (Auckland: Soapbox Press, 2007).
- Papyri: Love poems & fragments from Sappho & elsewhere (Auckland: Pania Press, 2007).
- Fragments (3). Papyri: Poems, Imitations & Translations. (February 3, 2007 - )
- A Clearer View of the Hinterland: Poems & Sequences 1981-2014. ISBN: 978-0-473-29640-7 (Wellington: HeadworX, 2014): 132.
Notes:
- Inspired by the literal prose translation in Mario Meunier’s Sappho, Anacréon et Anacréontiques (Paris: Editions Bernard Grasset, 1932): 93.
•
ignorant of harm sweeter than music brighter than money whiter than milk smoother than water swifter than porsche softer than rosebud richer than gold card keep away from trash
(13/1-27/2/07)
Publications:
- Papyri: Love poems & fragments from Sappho & elsewhere. ISBN 978-0-473-12397-0 (Auckland: Soapbox Press, 2007).
- Papyri: Love poems & fragments from Sappho & elsewhere (Auckland: Pania Press, 2007).
- Fragments (3). Papyri: Poems, Imitations & Translations. (February 3, 2007 - )
- A Clearer View of the Hinterland: Poems & Sequences 1981-2014. ISBN: 978-0-473-29640-7 (Wellington: HeadworX, 2014): 133.
Notes:
- Inspired by the literal prose translation in Mario Meunier’s Sappho, Anacréon et Anacréontiques (Paris: Editions Bernard Grasset, 1932): 95.
•
You won’t find any brides more beautiful than herSing Hymen, O Hymenaios Higher than the roof-tree Hymen lift him, carpenters O HymenaiosThe bridegroom comes in like Ares taller than the tallest man Your bride is happy are you happy, too? Love, what should I compare you to? strong as a rose-stem delicate as a flower that’s how you look to me Bridegroom, the day has come at last when you can possess your bride Her beauty’s not intimidating her eyes sweeter than honey Love quenches its thirst at the sight of her face Lady Aphrodite bows low to honour youSing Hymen, O Hymenaios Higher than the roof-tree Hymen lift him, carpenters O HymenaiosThe sweetest songs are songs of joy
(13/1-10/3/07)
Publications:
- Papyri: Love poems & fragments from Sappho & elsewhere. ISBN 978-0-473-12397-0 (Auckland: Soapbox Press, 2007).
- Papyri: Love poems & fragments from Sappho & elsewhere (Auckland: Pania Press, 2007).
- Papyri: Poems, Imitations & Translations. (February 3, 2007 - )
- A Clearer View of the Hinterland: Poems & Sequences 1981-2014. ISBN: 978-0-473-29640-7 (Wellington: HeadworX, 2014): 134.
Notes:
- Inspired by the literal prose translation in Mario Meunier’s Sappho, Anacréon et Anacréontiques (Paris: Editions Bernard Grasset, 1932): 91-92.
•
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