Vasilios Theodorakis – An Online Author

This 1988 poem was written as a fairy tale about a frog who ignored true friendships and pursued superficial relationships in his quest for excitement. The frog inadvertently pursues a person who is destined to cast him aside as soon as she gets bored with his innocence and inexperience.

Contrary to popular opinion (i.e. that of my wife and another close friend) the frog was not me, but an amalgam of male friends who went after girls who treated them badly. In addition to this, each and everyone of these friends had other female friends who were romantically interested them and who would have made wonderful partners/companions. As often happens though, my friends ignored these girls and to this day are still seeking out wives!

I’m glad to say that unlike reality, “The Facades Of Life” does have a happy ending, for the frog and his folklore rose.

The author for the week is the essayist: George Bernard Shaw

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – July 2009

This week’s piece was written about a colleague who’s insight and gentle nature was taken advantage of by a lot of people. She died in the early 1990s primarily from self neglect and over work. I’ve often felt, if it hadn’t been for the emotional vampires that surrounded her, she might still be alive today. Knowing how selfless she was however, I doubt she would have changed her ways, even if it guaranteed she could have had a longer life span.

Unfortunately, I never wrote down her name, can’t remember where she’s buried and can barely recall her face. What’s impossible to forget however is how she treated people. The poem is called – Her Sadness And Her Strength and was written in 1988.

The author for the week is the great Russian Orthodox fictional writer: Leo Tolstoy

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – July 2009

In the absence of any useful advice or healthy relationship role models, this poem was a question to myself as to whether an infatuation could translate into a “real” relationship. The piece is called – Knowing.

While working through this first anthology, I’ve found my early obsession with love a bit laborious and ridiculously naive. I therefore offer up my apologies to any readers who are also finding the latest run of poems from the late 1980’s more than a bit tedious.

As with many things viewed from a distance, love had been blown out of all proportions – mainly because I had never experienced it outside my adolescent fantasies. A little bit of experience may have cured me of my obsession, but unfortunately that didn’t happen till much later in my 20’s.

In regards to this blog though, I have for better or worse made a commitment to document all the material I’ve penned over the years – the purpose being, to highlight how one develops their own voice over time. Fortunately we’re not too far away from the end of the first anthology. Subsequent anthologies do cover a wider range of topics and put my over bearing notion of love back in its place.

The author for the week is Mary Shelley’s husband, troublemaker and vegetarian extraordinaire: Percy Bysshe Shelley

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – July 2009

This 1988 poem touches on the entwined issues of beauty, wanting and longing. As with most of these poems its about a crush I had on someone. The memory and name of the person is long gone but the legacy of the poem is still here. The piece is called – To Speak Or not To Speak

The author for the week is great novelist: Rudyard Kipling

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – July 2009