Three Rooms Press, which published Poppin Johnny for me two or three years ago, is at it again. Working with the fine translator Lina Sipitanou, they've come out with a bilingual collection of my poems, in Greek and English, entitled EOS: Abductor of Men
Here's a Youtube clip of me reading from the book, a poem 'Walk Into A Bakery Like It Is A Temple Of Gods,' at Le Poisson Rouge (formerly Village Gate) in Greenwich Village, last weekend.
Someone asked me to explain the book title. Eos is the Greek goddess of the dawn, and in certain versions of the legend, dawn steals young men away. The possible connotations of that are interesting enough. I was also intrigued with the legend of Eos and Tithonus, for its quite singular meaning to me as a person who has devoted a large part of my life to the pursuit of poetry. Here's that story, which I picked up on a Florida gardening blog online.
In
Greek mythology, Tithonus was a handsome mortal who fell
in love with Eos, the goddess of the dawn. Eos realized
that her beloved Tithonus was destined to age and die.
She begged Zeus to grant her lover immortal life.
Zeus was a jealous god,
prone to acts of deception in order to seduce beautiful
gods and mortals, and he was not pleased with Eos'
infatuation with a rival. In a classic Devil's Bargain,
he granted Eos's wish -- literally. He made Tithonus
immortal, but did not grant him eternal youth.
As Tithonus aged, he became increasingly debilitated and demented, eventually driving Eos to distraction with his constant babbling.
In despair, she turned Tithonus into a grasshopper. In Greek mythology, the grasshopper is immortal. This myth also explains why grasshoppers chirp ceaselessly, like demented old men.
As Tithonus aged, he became increasingly debilitated and demented, eventually driving Eos to distraction with his constant babbling.
In despair, she turned Tithonus into a grasshopper. In Greek mythology, the grasshopper is immortal. This myth also explains why grasshoppers chirp ceaselessly, like demented old men.
Hate to think of myself as a chirping old grasshopper poet. But those old Greeks were pretty smart. Guess I'll just keeping on chirping.
GW
