In the new book by the Greek poet Manolis Images of Absence the microcosm and the macrocosm both blend into the simple images of everyday life that become a mystery into which the poet delves with willingness and humbleness. Yet the poet is afraid that the mystery of these simple everyday images may be violated – disturbed by the phone call of the person just buried day before yesterday, the sacrilegious acts of the cement city people who make dust of every emotion and refinement, by the hierodules and pimps who turn every ideology into a profit thus flattening everything in their path. For the poet everything vanishes, everything flows through his fingers, everything except that smile that is whole, it can’t be divided, it can’t be analyzed, it is the moment that boils and bubbles.

One has to be a poet with all the seriousness of the word to manage to translate a poet such as Liantinis. And, you, Manolis Aligizakis are a true poet!
~ Nicolitsa Liantinis, Philosophy Professor, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

After reading your poems, I would like to mention that I really like them. At last, I found the real depth of spirit in your lines, which is nearly totally missing from the current "postmodern", meaningless trash called "poetry"...
~ Dr. Csiby Károly, Ph.D./translator

Manolis is a Greek-Canadian poet and author. His translation George Seferis: Collected Poems was shortlisted for the Greek National Literary Awards, the highest literary recognition of Greece. He was recently appointed an honorary instructor and fellow of the International Arts Academy, and awarded a Master’s for the Arts in Literature. Born in the village of Kolibari on the island of Crete in 1947, he emigrated to Vancouver in 1973. His poetry has been translated into Spanish, Romanian, Swedish, German, Hungarian languages and has been published in book form or in magazines in various countries. He now lives in White Rock, where he heads Libros Libertad, an unorthodox and independent publishing company.