Ray Greenblatt | Mediterranean Poetry

Ray Greenblatt has lived in New England, the West Indies, and along the Eastern Shore. He has written short stories, essays, and poetry which have been published across the U.S. in periodicals as diverse as America, English Journal, and Joseph Conrad Today.

He was nominated for the Pushcart Prize and won the Anthony Byrne Prize. He was also the editor of the magazine General Eclectic. A teacher for many years Ray Greenblatt has taught writing in the Philadelphia Writers Conference as well as spoken at the John Steinbeck Festival in Salinas, California.

SOUTHERN FRENCH TOWN

The hammering continues
through the warm summer day
of almond trees and olive groves,
they are hanging posters
for the farm market or circus
or theater season . . .
          in the shadow of the cathedral
          like a mountain in
          the middle of town . . .
people go around
and go about their business,
their life on the streets
or adjacent farmlands . . .
separate from the rare moments
on knees in ancient pews

in another world they have constructed,
a transcendental world . . .

SUNRISE OVER THE AEGEAN

Across the deep-set casement
blinds cast shadow of
ladder climbing the wall
as the morning ages,
of whatnot shifting
to hold each nook and niche
turns the hanging ikon to gold;
sun falls on grapes in clay pot
olives in copper bowl
wedge of feta on table,
where a white cloth changes
to snow in intense light;
soon we will sit on rush chairs
at table and sip slowly
thick Turkish coffee
discussing what the day will be.

For other contributions by Ray Greenblatt, please follow the links below:

Poetry in this post: © Ray Greenblatt
Published with the permission of Ray Greenblatt

Suggestions

March 23, 2010

Maria Grech Ganado, (b. 1943), poet, translator, critic, studied English at the Universities of Malta, Cambridge and Heidelberg. She was the first Maltese female Full-Time Lecturer at the . . .

February 10, 2010

Jesper Svenbro, born 1944 in Sweden. Studies in Classics at the University of Lund and, with Eric Havelock, at Yale. First volume of poetry published in 1966. PhD in Greek from Lund in 1976 with . . .

October 18, 2010

Hedy Habra was born in Egypt and is of Lebanese origin. She is the author of a poetry collection, Tea in Heliopolis (Press 53, 2013), a collection of short stories, Flying Carpets (Interlink, . . .

June 23, 2015

Lyn Lifshin has written more than 125 books and edited 4 anthologies of women writers. Her poems have appeared in most poetry and literary magazines in the U.S.A. and her work has been included . . .

October 10, 2020

Gail Tirone was born and raised in New York City. Her family is originally from Sicily, and she appreciates the Mediterranean region and culture on many levels. Gail has lived around the world, . . .