Poetry · A way to begin
Moments
Στιγμές
Costas Montis · 1958
Synopsis
Very brief poems, in short epigrammatic sections, often of a single line, in which a thought, an image or an irony is caught on the wing. Through these fragments, Montis builds a view of the world and a philosophy, without long development. The form stayed with him: a supplement appeared two years later, then further sequels, and a selection of these Moments was published in Athens in 1978.
Context
The collection appeared in Nicosia in 1958 and made its author's reputation; until then he had published only a few books of verse and short stories. An English translation, by Amaranth Sitas and Charles Dodd, appeared in 1965; some pieces were included in the 1972 French anthology of Cypriot poetry, which Montis co-edited. The introduction to Closed Doors ranks these Moments, along with the Letters to his Mother, among his great verse sequences.
Who it is for
Fragments of one or two lines, to be read slowly, one by one, in Greek or in the English translation of 1965.
Prizes and reception
It was with this book that Montis was recognised as a poet, seven years before its English translation.