What are your important names
And dates in your life?
Most importantly I would not
Sit here if my father wouldn’t
Have made me.
Probably on a warm summer night
In July 1939
A year before he had to become
Involved in the machinations
Of WWII.
What went on in his head?
Did he wish to leave something
Behind – a life – that carried on
As part of him
If he’d never made it back?
Probably.
I can figure out the dialogue
Of love between my parents.
The second important name
For me – beside my mother’s
And Uncle Joe’s
Was that of my grandma
Who cared for me when Mom
Was tied down by her business.
She was an optimist
Down to earth
With a heart of gold.
On third place I’d mention
Prof Borsai
Who supported my state of
Creativity in art and who
Recommended me to the
Fine Art School in Vienna.
But Mom was against the
Idea of her son becoming
An artist who’ll suffer –
As she put it.
However having managed
An university degree at the
Faculty of architecture
I’ll set off with my wife
To Afrique du Sud.
I should call this prose poem
Rather: Milestones of the life
Of Z.
As the first time sex was rather
A disappointment
I believed that sex with B was
Greater fun.
Well it was for me but not for
Her.
Hard fact of my early life.
Drawn to a bevy of beautiful
Women
I’d experienced eroticism but
Never complete satisfaction
After B’s rebuff of being unable
To satisfy her sexually.
Well I’ve tried hard but our
Disagreements of making babies
Wasn’t at the forefront at that
Time and perhaps that played
A great part in it as well.
It had to be in the later years
Of my life that I’ve met my love
Maybe the greatest love –
Anna – with whom I experienced
An almost perfect love: That is
The harmony of mind soul and
Body.
Looking back I am sure now
As she even spoke of children
If we would have met in younger
Years.
Romance of star struck lovers
Is something special indeed!
A whirlwind affair of the heart
The mind cancelled out altogether
For the child-like happiness
Uncensored by logic of course
Otherwise there never would be
A falling in love at all.
All the time when I was together
With Anna
I flew with her – two lovers –
Above the roofs of Athens
Soaring above the Acropolis
Where we had met
At the foot of the Sacred Rock
The Tower of Winds
Kapnikareas Street
It all stuck to my mind
Being raised to the sacred
Panathenean processional route.
Our feet walk the historical path
Of millions of people before us
Lovers who met in secret and
Commenced up the path to the
Most venerated site in Athens
Greatest monument of antiquity.
Besides the historical landmark
It’s a place of cultural inheritance
Where the great Parthenon temple
Embodies the foundation of
Western culture
Which could only happen due to
Greece.
This is the most important landmark
In my life.
It is the one to which all other
Landmarks relate and echo back to.
Where most important sculptures
And works of art were buried
To protect them from pilfering
And destructive Barbarians
And left two generations to
Discover their inheritance.
Anna
Buried in the Third Cemetery of
Athens
Together with others
Where I come back to
Time and again
And sense the historic places
We have walked together.
Since she had left this place
Her spirit remained.
Sometimes I can sense her.
She sends me dreams and
Prompts for my artistic
Imagination.
After the high-time with Anna
A period of depression followed
Where life and death had been
Profoundly analyzed and the
Purpose of life looked at. Then
As emotions waned somewhat
Used up by the healing process
Of time
Another stage followed for me.
The door with Anna had been
Closed in my face
And another door – called
New Way Creativity –
Opened for me.
Perhaps the artist in me
Called ZG had emerged
Who worked away feverishly
At his art.
It had sprung up from suffering
And thru’ the medium of art
It had a chance overcoming
The pain of Anna’s early death.
Meeting Mr.T was another milestone
Indeed. It certainly turned around
My life that had taken a route
I had never imagined it would.
A new practically minded Muse
Had emerged and influenced
My life
As B was not herself and would not
Take part in my artistic efforts
To make it in Greece.
An artistic mind herself
B designed a series of new handbags
And would compose its looks from
Portions of images on my paintings
But then decides to use waterproof
Materials with the images imposed
On it and use it also as a beach bag.
I liked her idea but we lacked funds
To establish her as a fashion designer.
She would have made it with a strong
Funding base by a person who believed
In her talents.
Every artist looks for a marketer
Like that.
Many great talents would become
Famous
If they had good marketing.
I thought of my Mom and indeed
As much as I have disagreed with her
Often
As much I had loved her too.
The special bond of mother and child
Had been deeply felt
Especially at her time of death.
In my case it was the memory of
A slide ride at an icy but sunny
Winter’s morning.
Anna: The lucky seven woman.
Anna had an obsession with the
So called lucky number seven.
First we talked about art and
Literature
Exchanging our thoughts about
Genres of writing.
Anna offered me an insight into
Her writing of short stories.
In time she revealed to me her
Life – until we met eye to eye –
With photographs and stories
About her childhood and her
Teenage years
Her love interests and her
Favourite Greek poets.
Most of them had been translated
Into English and she sponsored
My education with books she
Sent me.
Anna was indeed an excellent
Teacher. It all happened fast and
She seemed to run out of time
Teaching me poetry.
I thanked her for the daily prompts
And the stimulation for my progress
In writing poetry.
One of the magazines distributed
For advertisement
Featured a short article on the
Number seven.
The number seven is often
Looked at as a lucky number
And lucky children are all those
Where the seven features in
Their birthdates.
As seven is the first prime number
It symbolizes change.
People with this number of fate
Are spiritually blessed and they
Love to pursue philosophical
Mysteries.
They are neither possessive nor
Egoistical
But more benign and peaceful.
With their talent of assessing people
On top of their negotiating skills
They make very good mediators.
Money means nothing to them
And physical comfort means little.
They have a sharp penetrating
Intellect
But also play with the dream-like
Phenomenon.
They are blessed with phantasy
And at times show a specific trend
To extravagancy. (So far for the article).
As Anna was born on 7/7/47
She had three sevens in her birthdate.
Besides adding up her birthday again
Gave a seven!
Extraordinary to say the least.
Yet as she was talented in poetry and
Art history
She also happened to be a passionate
Lover and was the only person I have
Experienced the triad of love with:
Mind Soul Body.
It’ll follow me for the rest of my life.
For Anna – she described herself as
A social democrat –
Shared her love
Her food
Her poetry
Her juices of life
With me.
Most of all she shared her passion
For poetry with me and guided me
To the path of writing and composing
Play my talents of drawing and poetry
Create a near synthesis in the addition
Of artists before me: Lawrence
Breyten-Breytenbach
Paul Klee
Picasso
And many others. I should do a research
Into this at times.
Anna had – out of experience – suffered
From a relationship with a man who
Would not marry her after he made her
Pregnant.
He was married and would not leave his
Wife for Anna. Ana. Anetha.
She sent me photos and I could see
The pain in her face.
Having aborted the foetus
She married another man and they had
A daughter.
Anna cried at my shoulder one day
During the Twenty Days and One
When our relationship peaked in
Sexual love. An intense erotical
Moment
Our bodies embraced
She was seated in my lap on her
Armless Thonet chair:
Warm tears of love
I’ve never experienced like that
Before. I felt very close to her.
She spoke of fate not being able
To have met a bit longer before
When we were younger and
Certainly would have beautiful
Children by now.
The woman who felt I wanted
A child with?
Indeed. She wanted that too.
However fate did not.
And thinking of my friend Edwin
What was it all about?
He said that we are all here for
A purpose.
And my purpose?
To give something of my love
To a woman?
Give unhappiness to my spouse?
zoltanzelan
ZJG-POetry’18.