N. proposes a compelling psychological narrative that explores – intensively and ironically – the vagaries of personal history and its vulnerability to the pressures of time and place. The combination of emotional scope and a virtuosic handling of language and form gives notice of a voice that it will prove impossible to ignore.
Shortlisted for an Eric Gregory Award, Nicholas Potamitis first presented this sequence at the 2005 Cambridge Poetry Summit.
Shortlisted for an Eric Gregory Award, Nicholas Potamitis first presented this sequence at the 2005 Cambridge Poetry Summit.
i. /+++++++The Capitulation of Arábi Pasha ( PART ONE )
+++++++++ N—— despite hostile declarations
++expected still to make an appearance — inflexible —
nuanced trade agreements++++brokered by ship-of-the-line
++++still no sign of N——++++ ruddy hundred pounders blast
++++escarpments,+++the minaret of Kait Bey,++others
++++might be working overtime at service-stations, or
checking late editions for tells — eventually amidst muezzin-
++++splattered rubble he shows pink, embarrassed
++++& not a little disappointed