This past week, David Wallace wrote about Austerity Measures for The New Yorker's Page-Turner blog. Of the current relationship between politics and poetry in Greece, he wrote:
For the past decade, the news has been grim, and there is a surplus of poets who have tuned in: ‘Poets writing graffiti on walls, poets reading in public squares, theaters, and empty lots, poets performing in slams, chanting slogans, and singing songs at rallies, poets blogging and posting on the internet, poets teaming up with artists and musicians, poets teaching workshops to schoolchildren and migrants,’ as Karen Van Dyck writes in her introduction to Austerity Measures, an anthology that presents contemporary Greek-language poetry as a thriving community amid the turmoil.
Included in the article are excerpts from the following poems:
- "Nightmare Pink," by Elena Penga, translated by Karen Van Dyck
- "Around the House," by Danae Sioziou, translated by Rachel Hadas
- "Simple Math," by Yannis Stiggas, translated by Katerina Anghelaki-Rooke
- "Fuck Armageddon," by Jazra Khaleed, translated by Max Ritvo
- "Poetry Does Not Suffice," by Statamis Polenakis, translated by A.E. Stallings
Read the entire piece here.
(Thumbnail of illustration by Seb Agresti.)