ILIAS FOUKIS
BEGINNING AND END OF DESIRE
‘’..In this muck
There is no way to escape the pollution
What matters is
To be as little polluted as one can…’’
ARTHUR RIMBAUD
THE IDEALIST IN THE WORKSHOP
If there was sufficient scope
to love two...
I would have loved with a unique kind of temperament
and uncommon passion
a person and a piece of white paper.
If the paper would have expressed eagerness
at being covered with signs
in this state of temptation
I would have discerned in the person
strong feminine qualities.
That would have been a Classical Reason
for the signs to seek an opening
all the way to the absolute infinite.
In any case I would have gone that far
which for the time being is
the fire of Ardor with no prostrating consequences
and I would have got even nearer
that frightened feminine human being
as if I wanted to convince it
that where the letters are overpowering
the margins are tragically reduced
for the patrons of Existence.
The paper now transformed
into thousands of meanings and messages
would seek another site
its eyes besieged
by new and enchanting landscapes.
Even better when someone dared to confront
the cruelty and frivolity of Nature
Even better if they are besieged
by the ferocious super-man
so that the Promised Land might be included
in the vague schemes of Dreams.
Seeing thus that in this World
there is motion...
I would be content with a single placement
of the female -- woman
in the heart.
BEAUTY
At that moment when Aphrodite
conquered the fourth Sky as well
the highest circles of Society
decided that she could now be
proclaimed Illustrious Woman.
That is the great
moment had come for the Advertisement
her body to be stuck to the background of Omnipotence
or for the passions of Nature to violently trampled on
if she were
to conquer even the Ninth Heaven.
Or simply to be a contributor
to the Suns circling from Dawn to Sunset
to be executed not only
without any intervention of night
but also during the time period
when the Giants of money had a taste for it.
And without yet returning to her Man
Aphrodite observed that
the seas had begun to bury the blue in the earth
and the first dust had begun to fall
on the laurel wreath of victory
as the island of Cyprus
filled up with reporters and managers
and with the vilest people in the World.
The moment Hephaestus learned of all that
he locked himself in his house
and gave his full attention to his profession as gunsmith
because he too would be losing
his beautiful wife
now she had appeared before the eyes of the World.
THE SEASON OF THE IMPASSIONED
Just as in all seasons in Future as well
women will see in men
only the back side of Beauty.
So... they will savor the apples in particular
since their sweetness
will not give rise to a rude male presence.
The stars would all be embodied in glances
even though their light
would not become signals to launch male assaults.
The goddess of seas and oceans
will be pleased if their depth
doe not remind anyone
of the humankind's diving into the soul.
The vile part of Eros
that one touched and dirtied by all
will be used
for the creation of Horizons of correction
related to the mystery of the Existence of Gardens
in desolate regions of the soul and the World.
And since this manner
leads women to mass betrayals
the front part of Beauty
will be used with great success
for the articulation of protests
which are constantly reaching the point
of Don Juan being replaced by History.
THE EXISTENCE OF APHRODITE
The thought you are leaving
ceaselessly irrevocably from me
has brought to a halt at the Gates of my heart
the motion of Stars...Birds...
Dreams... Thoughts
and all the Planets
at exactly the point of their happiest days.
Despite all that
such unconscious imaginings
die early
and there is a great likelihood
that as soon as the funeral service of Matter
has been eradicated from my suspicions
you will come back to me one day again.
But nothing will change
regarding the consequences of that Procession
because since I never wanted to be alone
I would ask you...
Where were you so long?
Since the creation of the World?
With whom..?
Finally...how could you yourself have been anywhere?
The Stars...
in their light
not able to stand the cold of loneliness
hoping that virility
will be glowing somewhere else...
The birds
whose motion will remind you
how you too could seek out another roof...
The thoughts
how they convinced you that you Exist!
The Dreams
with which this landscape has misted over
you would have asked something more from nature...
Finally ... All the Planets
going round them
the one after the other
believing that you were somewhere...
Well then, all these were in me.
THE DISAPPEARANCE
Since I was away
the previous century you disappeared
and no one was able to find you.
The explorers were trapped
by the metamorphosis of Breath into Fog...
Somewhere at the end of hope...they were persuaded that
either they were searching on an Earth without love
or that love on this Earth
was very dense.
In this boomerang of conjecture
you found the opportunity to move even further away.
Of course...without anyone bothering you
since even that smattering of birds
that might have been able to spot you
from the heights of their own Virtue
had never understood the language
humans speak...
or perhaps it has never been comprehensible.
And I am certain that you roam about on this Earth
which is either surrounded by nothing at all
or is surrounded by great speed
in order to catch the Ancient Rhythm
for the surrounding of the senses in the Soul.
And you again may find the opportunity to escape
especially now
for the Ancients have appeared on
on the stage of the Modern Era
as if confirming
the despairing truths about Idols
with their perpetual inclination
to bantering and tragic irony.
But whether they are blessed or cursed
you daydreamers out there
must get it through your head
that in this sudden Presence
there will be no miracle.
And the Ancients appear disappointed
not in the mood at all for a Renaissance.
It seems they have wearied of pursuing
Virtues and Conscience.
They were endlessly looking for ideal women
as they sought a peaceful catharsis
in their tragedies...
and the brilliant diamonds of desires
which they have imagined on the breasts of women
were transformed into tears of disappointment
by their admirers
when they saw their generosity and grandeur
being soiled on the corners of Athens
in pursuit of Mary Magdalene.
It happened later... Magdalene’s repentance.
But the Ancients and I
do not want to bow down quite yet
and hold our heads high.
But our eyes are riveted there
where Eve looked forward to the woman
who would be to her liking
so that waiting for her to come down
we have been left without Epoch.
This Epoch
has passed in your possession
and with it you will create
another Human History
which will be colonized by the Existence of Women
for the vilest taste...
And most important of all...
since the Earth
of that Human History
will have no trees
which you must bloody yourself in order to climb
to reach the Height of Female Love
and because of this serious lack of Ethos
the Height of the Feminine Ideal
will be even with the level of the ground.
THE INDICTMENT
In all Seasons
I would be able to charge you
with having stolen half my life
in my thinking of you.
The half of my life
which unfolded on this Earth
despite knowing what a disaster would occur
in the thoughts of the living
when by means of the terrible monotony of processions
the depressing result would be announced
of the battle with the patrons
of temporary Existence.
That is also why you were in a hurry
to steal half of the Earth from me
as long as I was thinking about sleeping with you.
The half of my sleep
which unfolded in the Sky
not worried that it would be challenged by a God
from the time when you...
you were dreamlike only on Earth
laying the foundations thus for the Idea
of Eternal Hypnosis
despite the fact we know that Dreams were scandalized
when they were calculated with the dimensions of the Heavens
that was Idea you were wearing
in order to confront
the fierce human winter
impossible to violate.
Because you remained untouched by any desires
all agreements have been broken.
And you accepted walking once more on the Earth
despite the fact you knew there awaited you
the indifference of the wasteland...
But you wanted to climb up to the Sky
knowing that you were outside the love of the living
despite the fact that at the Gate of the heart
you can feel a large multitude
of stars awaiting you there.
Nevertheless I have withdrawn
to the dry lands of the indictment
and rule there on my own.
A strange kingdom this one of mine
having no one at my beck and call
and without being a candle for anyone’s fate.
Despite all that setting off now
for my one and only fortune
I see thousands of daydreamers quarrelling
about the matter of the bequest.
Happiness...by dear visionaries
is non-existent in the wealth of this property
but in that way...to my surprise
being truly open to the blessings or the blasphemies
of Heaven...
there will be built on it the white Temples of Theology
for the People who even after all this vain futility
will try the Luck
of Existence here on Earth.
KING SOLOMON
The women who King Solomon loved
the most
were those women
whose soul heed imagined
like the rivers flow.
But immediately after
this ardent desire
old Solomon coolly concluded
that the rivers flow leads them to the sea
and to that boundless blue of the oceans
where all the Temples and Sins
of the Earth are devitalized
and he might thus lose the control he had over Women.
Then King Solomon
in a fit of anger remembered that he was in command
and in the case of danger
he would know how to stop
these maddened rivers.
But this was not the only danger...
Besides the seas and the rivers
the female view of the cosmos also included the sky...
Indeed of late
he had information from his secret agents
that women were exchanging looks with the Stars
and...consequently
their hearts which he had assumed
were near at hand and under complete possession
like the walls of palaces
burned as one with those distant fires.
And thus in that way
King Solomon began to repent
because before he created his Kingdom
he had not thought of incorporating all the Stars
in the celestial territory of the Monarchy
and now at this advanced age
he had to do a detailed study of Astrology.
But old Solomon
had discovered a long time ago all on his own
that Heaven and the Mysteries of the Heaven
were like women
whom he had never loved.
Since the Astrologers of the Future
exploiting the derangement of mortals
entered into negotiations with the Heavens
he from the moment charged them
with enormous spiritual failures
and provocative stupidity
that would have deprived Women
of that Amour which broke down fences
with the force of the enticements
to reach the Promised Land
like a divine oracle
rushing with the conviction of rivers.
IMMORTALITY
If we two
loved each other for one whole day
the next morning
we would awaken with the thought
that employing the same dynamism
we would be able to love all year round.
Since we two
would love the whole year round
like a clear horizon would hover
before us the idea
that in contrast to the paleness
of the light of eyes
our love would be always brighter and brighter
for the entire century.
And if we two
could manage such a miracle
light and guileless as all speeds are
we would race along in the thought
that we might well love
for all the Centuries.
This final thought,however,
would be quite burdensome..
and severely punished
the Gods of Olympus with supreme charge
'' For giving humanity the secret
of Happiness''
and under the weight of her blindmay die.
Translation by PHILIP RAMP
