Guide to Greece

Book excerpt: In the tradition of second-century writer Pausanias, George Kalogeris offers a series of meditative poems on his Greek heritage, both through the intimate lens of his upbringing and the vast historical view of the country’s great literature and philosophy. Kalogeris’s Guide to Greece is a warm and personal collection that ambitiously ties the diaspora of Greek people and ideas into a single literary experience. The struggles of a displaced, working-class family, in turn, give rise to musings on Antigone and Odysseus. Ancient Greek heroes inspire considerations of modern-day greats, such as billionaire Aristotle Onassis and baseball player Harry Agganis. Mirroring the familiar yet mythic call of the Aegean Sea, these poems at once evoke vivid childhood memories and provide new explorations of time-honored epics.