The Greek Press Office Presents an Anthology of Greek-American Poetry

New York.- By Vicki J. Yiannias
Press Consul Polyxeni Mastroperrou, recognizing and valuing the enduring bonds between Greek-American and Greece, continued her energizing support of Greek and Greek American cultural endeavor by hosting an elegant book party for a new volume of poetry titled Pomegranate Seeds, An Anthology of Greek-American Poetry, at the spacious new location of the Greek Press Office at 305 E 47th Street, in New York near the United Nations, on the evening of April 18.

The anthology is dedicated to the memory of the late, great, poet and translator Kimon Friar, best known for his translation of Kazantzakis’ epic poem The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel.

Together with the bookʼs publisher, Mr. Dean Papademetriou of Somerset Hall Press, Boston, four of the poets in the anthology, Mr. Dean Kostos, who is editor of the volume, Mrs. Lili Bita, Mr. Nicos Alexiou, and Mr. Yiorgos Chouliaras, were presenters at the happy, upbeat event, which was attended by a number of the forty-nine poets represented in the anthology.

This collection of poems, Mr. Kostos writes in the preface, while reflecting a community;ʼs ethos—contains diverse aesthetics. “All the writers share a connection (no matter how tenuous or pronounced) to their Greek heritage and to their American one. Of course, definitions of what it is to be Greek, American, or Greek-American are as varied and contradictory as the work of these poets.”

Kostos favors the use of the hyphen in Greek-American, he writes, because of its value as a metaphor, as “a little bridge between two world, two identities. Do we traverse this hyphen, leading us to divide our time, like Persephone, between two worlds? Are we Greek in America and American in Greece?” Instead of this either/or proposition, he says, perhaps another option exists: the hybrid identity

“After all, like Persephone, who ate pomegranate seeds in Hades, we have partaken of both cultures, and have grown roots in both terrains. These roots have entwined with the words we write”.

The poets whose work is included in the anthology and who come from throughout the United States, all have at least one Greek grandparent. Many were born in the United States; others were born in Greece or Cyprus (some of the poems, originally written in Greek, are translated). Some are bilingual, some speak only English, yet, says editor Dean Kostos, “each poet has a deep connection to his or her Greek identity, family history and heritage.”

In his presentation, Yiorgos Chouliaras, Press Consul at the Greek Embassy in Washington, D.C and the author of Roads of Ink and five previous volumes of poetry in Greek, cited Greek American poetry (GAP) as having been, up to this point, “marginal” to Greek poetry, to American poetry, and marginal to the Greek American community, however, he proclaimed this marginality as now becoming “a source of extraordinary vitality.”

“The significance of Pomegranate Seeds corresponds to the quality of the work included in the anthology and reflects different ways in which authors have negotiated contradictions of style and theme, of writing and orality, of center and periphery, letting poetry happen,” said Chouliaras. “Recognition of this achievement in terms of language, however, makes it in turn possible to consider the place of such an anthology in the world of letters (American, Greek, or in general) as well as in terms of a community of Hellenic heritage in the United States. This is a community that exceeds bonds of kinship and extends to an Isocratic community of shared education or paideia.”

Although appreciation of poetic achievement may require much more time, said Chouliaras, the fact of this first-ever anthology of Greek-American poetry can already be linked to the cultural, political, and economic maturation of the Greek community in the United States.

“Greek-Americans as a community washed many dishes and helped shine many shoes before reaching the top of business accomplishment and educational achievement for their offspring. Moreover, they are strongly and ably represented at the top of political power, in the U.S. Senate, the House of Representatives, the Administration, and public service in general. Taking into account the importance of poetry for the image of Greece and Hellenism, a work such as Pomegranate Seeds represents a literary expression of the dynamism of Hellenes in America that corresponds to their achievement and pursuit of excellence in other areas, including business, politics, and culture at large.”

Recounting some historical pomegranate imagery, Chouliaras noted that pomegranates were agents of resurrection in Babylonian mythology and an emblem of longevity among the Chinese; they adorned the high priestʼs vestments in Hebrew tradition, while ancient Persians believed they made them invincible. “…. considering that the pomegranate, according to Greek mythology was the fruit that seduced Persephone who ended up spending her life between two worlds,” he concluded humorously, “we might begin to wonder whether Persephone was in fact Greek-American!”

During the presentation special thanks were given to Judith Kallas (wife of storyteller John Kallas) who as part owner of the Cornelia Street Cafe has provided a venue for the Dean Kostos-hosted gatherings of the Greek American Writers Association, his brainchild, downstairs at the Cornelia Street Cafe for the past 15 years.

The following evening, Saturday, April 19, several poets read from their work in Pomegranate Seeds, An Anthology of Greek-American Poetry at the Cornelia Street Cafe, which is at 29 Cornelia St.

The poets whose work appears in the anthology, in the order in which they appear, are Nicos Alexiou, Manya Coulentianos Bean, Dorothea Bisbas, Lil Bita, Sevasti Boutos, John Bradley, Ioanna Carlsen, Neil Carpathios, Yiorgos Chouliaras, Kyriaki S. Christodoulou, Constantine Contogenis, George Economou, Eleni Fortouni, Emily Fragos, Dan Georgakas, Faye George, Aris Georgiadis, Veronica Golos, M.J. Golias, Stathis Gourgouris, Thea Halo, Nicholas Johnson, George Kalamaras, Nina Karakosta, Penelope Karageorge, E.D. Karampetsos, Helen Dendrinou Kolias, Sofia Kontogeorge Kostos, Dean Kostos, Barbara Lekatsas John Manesis, Kathryn Maris, Thanasis Maskaleris, Adriana Mastor, Cleopatra Mathis, Zaharati Morfesis, Nikki Moustaki, Kostas Myrsiades, Stephanos Papadopoulos, Andriana Rizos, Helen Ruvelas, Nicholas Samaras, Minas Savvas, Hilary Sideris, Eleni Sikelianos, Diana Stamatelos-Theocharis, Tryfon Tolides, Deno Trakas.

Demeter to Persephone
By Veronica Golos

There was nothing I gave you did not take;
Nothing I had you did not overthrow.
Hold you now, as I never could?
In calling you, what word was it I forgot?
What does it take to stop loving the world?
Stand in the corn and see what I see:
You leaving me.