Yannis Ritsos (1909–90) is generally considered to be – along with Cavafy, Seferis and Elytis – one of the most significant Greek poets of the last century. His life was, to say the least, troubled. From an early age, he was dogged by the tuberculosis that killed his mother and brother. His father and sister suffered breakdowns and spent time in institutions. His poem Epitaphios (1936), a lament for a young man shot dead by the police during a tobacco workers’ strike, was publicly burned by the Metaxas regime and his books banned. During the post-World War Two civil war – because he sided with the left – Ritsos was arrested and sent to prison camps. Then, in 1967, when the Papadopoulos military junta took control of the country, he was again arrested, again his books were banned, again he spent time in prison camps, before being confined to house arrest on the island of Samos. The violence and tyranny of dictatorship is often fractured by the surreal. In the poems collected here, written by Ritsos while in prison and under house arrest, that fracture in perception is a wound. A Broken Man in Flower has an introduction by John Kittmer and includes the text of an illuminating and vivid letter sent by Ritsos to his publisher in 1969 while under house arrest on Samos describing his life – and the lives of Greeks – under the repressive rule of the Colonels. David Harsent’s thirteen collections have won a number of awards, including the Forward Prize, the T.S. Eliot Prize and the Griffin International Prize. He is also a librettist: his collaborations with composers, chiefly with Harrison Birtwistle, have been performed at major venues worldwide.

Table of Contents:
INTRODUCTION by John Kittmer 11 I Karlovasi on Samos, 2 April 1969 Yannis Ritsos, under house arrest at Karlovasi on Samos, writes to his friend and publisher, Nana Kallianesi 21 II The Broken Man in Flower 40 Timeline of Ritsos’s life and key work A BROKEN MAN IN FLOWER I Partheni Prison Camp, Leros 47 The Treaty 48 Penelope 49 The Plough 50 Unmarked 51 The Argo 52 The Studio 53 A Painting 54 A Break in Routine 55 Naked 56 Growing Old 57 Blocked 58 Newspeak 59 The Wax Museum 60 Endgame 61 Hindsight 62 Knowledge 63 The Blue Jug 64 Cancer 65 On the Edge 66 Blockade 67 Words 68 Content 69 Midnight 70 The Message 71 Things Shift 72 Double 73 Something and Nothing 74 Stones 75 Watermelons 76 No News 77 All of Us 78 Convalescence 79 Shame 80 In Short 81 At Dusk 82 The Corridor II Homeland: Eighteen Bitter Songs Partheni Prison Camp / Samos 85 1: Baptism 86 2: Q&A 87 3: In Time 88 4: The People 89 5: Memorial 90 6: Dawn 91 7: ‘Freedom’ 92 8: Green 93 9: Theology 94 10: To Greece 95 11: The Song 96 12: Offshore Trees 97 13: Feast Day 98 14: Epitaph 99 15: The Tides 100 16: The New House 101 17: One Thought 102 18: No Tears For Romiosini III Samos: house arrest 105 Abandoned 106 Poem 107 Ceremony 108 As If Loukas 109 Underwater 110 Fear 111 Substitution 112 Separate Ways 113 The View from Here 114 Just This 115 Squaddies 116 Reversals 117 Kollyva 118 Saturday 11 a.m. 119 Aware 120 Birdcall 121 Why? 122 Connections 123 Wrong 124 Out in the Open 125 The List 126 Followed 127 From Nowhere to Nowhere 128 Circle 129 Plans 130 Old Clothes 131 Memory’s Thread 132 Himself Alone 133 Frost 134 Departures III 135 Suspicion 136 That Other Man 137 Numbers 138 Absentee 139 In Reverse 140 Soldier Dolls 141 Waiting to Die 142 Almost 143 Before She Sleeps 144 Motionless 145 Woodworm 146 Omens 147 White 148 The Tree – The Hanged Man 149 The Other House 150 White Night 151 Life in Phares 152 Midnight 153 Masquerade 154 After Rain 155 Nausea 156 Habit 157 Leaves 158 Quotidian 159 Rain 160 By the Window 161 In Flower 162 Three-storey House with Basement 163 Call 164 Locked Off 165 Changes 166 Lies and Secrets 167 Ever 168 Fakes 169 Pointless 170 The Girl Who Regained Her Sight 171 Interrogation Centre 172 Locked 173 Badge of Honour 174 Midnight Knock 175 This 176 The Green Armchair 177 Sleepless 178 Baptism of Blood 179 The Summons 180 Renewal 181 In Readiness 182 Report 183 Greece 184 Hints 187 Broken 188 Testament