Site Update
The poem for this week is: Meeting.
This piece belongs to the “Growing Up” anthology and was written on Saint Patrick’s Day in 1988 – 17/03/88. The theme is fairly obvious i.e. wanting to talk to, and get to know someone (I had a crush on) but being too scared to do so. For better or worse, the poem highlights my naivety about women and relationships (even though I was already 21). Like many people of my generation, I had received no guidance or advice as to what a healthy and genuine relationship might entail. Unfortunately, I had also grown up with no useful adult role models and as a consequence, frantically read far too many autobiographies and biographies to compensate.
Readers will find that a number of my poems, from 1988 to 1998, follow a similar theme but the period thankfully ends in identifying what a lasting relationship isn’t i.e. that the warm fuzzy infatuation has nothing to do with finding a long term companion for oneself. It also took a while to understand that good relationships were reciprocal and based on gentleness, kindness and affection. My wife Helen, who epitomises all these traits, proved that it pays to persist with one’s search for a life partner.
This week’s highlighted author is: Brian Greene – in particular his novel “The Elegant Universe“.
Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – February 2009