Anastassis VISTONITIS (Greece) was born in Komotini, Northern Greece. He studied Political Sciences and Economics in Athens and Philosophy in Thessaloniki. From 1996 to 2001, he was a member of the board of the E.W.C. (The Federation of European Writers). From 2003 to 2007, he was the Vice-president of the E.W.C.. Vistonitis has published twelve books of poetry, four volumes of essays, five travelogues, a book of short stories and a book of translations of the Chinese poet Li He. Vistonitis was the General Editor of the candidature file of Athens for the Olympic Games of 2004. His writings have been translated into 20 languages. He writes for the leading Greek newspaper To Vima and lives in Athens.
Ars Poetica
Not like the leaves
windswept through the streets.
Nor still in the sea,
a tethered boat.
A poem is not the sky’s azure,
its lucid air.
A poem is a stake
through the world’s heart,
a glinting blade
driven through the towns.
A poem is pain,
a bright splinter of steel,
ice, a blackened wound.
A poem is obdurate,
its facets diamond.
Graved stone.
A surging Asian river.
A poem is neither voice
nor winged passage.
It’s a rifle shot
at history, the skyline.
A poem is no withering bloom.
It is anguish, embalmed.
(Translated by Anastassis Vistonitis and George O’Connell)
安納斯塔西斯．威斯托尼迪斯（希臘），生於雅典北部科莫迪尼，曾於雅典研究政治經濟學，並於特撒隆尼基研究哲學。從1996至2001年，他是歐洲作家聯盟之一員；從2003至2007年，他擔任歐洲作家協會的副主席。威斯托尼迪斯著有十二本詩集、四本散文集、五本遊記、一本短篇小說，獲翻譯成二十種語言出版。他亦翻譯中國詩人李賀的作品。威斯托尼迪斯曾獲任雅典奧運會申辦材料的主筆。現為希臘最重要的報紙《論壇日報》撰稿，居於雅典。
詩藝
詩歌不像樹葉
可以由風吹落至地面。
也不像靜止的海面，
可以停靠船隻。
詩歌不是蔚藍的天空
和清新的空氣。
詩歌是刺透世界心臟的
那根木樁。
是筆直穿透城市的
那把亮刀。
詩歌是精神的傷痛，
是反光的金屬碎片，
是冰塊，是發黑的傷口。
詩歌是堅硬的
多面鑽石體。
是純色的——雕琢完好的大理石。
是洶湧澎湃的——亞洲河流。
詩歌不是聲音，
是飛鳥的痕跡。
詩歌是海平線和歷史上的
運行軌跡。
詩歌不是枯萎的花朵。
是不腐的傷痛。
（翻譯﹕錢穎超）