Cicada Chimes

Fiction & Literature, Poetry
Cover of the book Cicada Chimes by Helen Koukoutsis, Ginninderra Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Helen Koukoutsis ISBN: 9781760414047
Publisher: Ginninderra Press Publication: August 30, 2017
Imprint: Ginninderra Press Language: English
Author: Helen Koukoutsis
ISBN: 9781760414047
Publisher: Ginninderra Press
Publication: August 30, 2017
Imprint: Ginninderra Press
Language: English

Cicada Chimes is set over a twenty-four-hour period covering several years in time lapse; it moves from a funeral service in Rookwood, to a honeymoon in Paris, to the morning markets in Serres, Greece, and a church service in Surry Hills. The twenty-four-hour time structure is Helen Koukoutsis’ way of exploring the effects of her father’s death and mother’s grief on her Australian-Greek Orthodox identity. Written with understated humour, these poems smile at the tensions between marriage and motherhood, memory and forgetfulness, and life and death. 

‘Poignant, bittersweet memories. A journey from Greece to Australia, to Europe and back into the Ithaca of one’s self. Poems that are lean, stripped to the bones of language with the calm tenacity of Emily Dickinson. Helen Koukoutsis questions tradition, religion, society, academia, her own strengths and frailties as a daughter, sister, wife, mother. And all the while the chimes of the cicadas in Rookwood Cemetery are ringing in her ears, following. Forever.’ – Peter Skrzynecki OAM

‘In her impressive debut collection, Helen Koukoutsis moves among “homes and tables” – from coastal Greece to suburban Australia, across Europe and over the span of literature – to bring us a new poetry of everyday experience. These stories of love and grief are threaded together with vitality and care. Kasseri, cicadas and “thirsting dianthus” crowd together alongside mothers, lovers and daughters. Koukoutsis writes deftly, in sure measure, with Emily Dickinson at one hand and Virginia Woolf at the other.’ – Kate Fagan

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Cicada Chimes is set over a twenty-four-hour period covering several years in time lapse; it moves from a funeral service in Rookwood, to a honeymoon in Paris, to the morning markets in Serres, Greece, and a church service in Surry Hills. The twenty-four-hour time structure is Helen Koukoutsis’ way of exploring the effects of her father’s death and mother’s grief on her Australian-Greek Orthodox identity. Written with understated humour, these poems smile at the tensions between marriage and motherhood, memory and forgetfulness, and life and death. 

‘Poignant, bittersweet memories. A journey from Greece to Australia, to Europe and back into the Ithaca of one’s self. Poems that are lean, stripped to the bones of language with the calm tenacity of Emily Dickinson. Helen Koukoutsis questions tradition, religion, society, academia, her own strengths and frailties as a daughter, sister, wife, mother. And all the while the chimes of the cicadas in Rookwood Cemetery are ringing in her ears, following. Forever.’ – Peter Skrzynecki OAM

‘In her impressive debut collection, Helen Koukoutsis moves among “homes and tables” – from coastal Greece to suburban Australia, across Europe and over the span of literature – to bring us a new poetry of everyday experience. These stories of love and grief are threaded together with vitality and care. Kasseri, cicadas and “thirsting dianthus” crowd together alongside mothers, lovers and daughters. Koukoutsis writes deftly, in sure measure, with Emily Dickinson at one hand and Virginia Woolf at the other.’ – Kate Fagan

More books from Ginninderra Press

Cover of the book Now and Then by Helen Koukoutsis
Cover of the book Of Llamas and Piranhas by Helen Koukoutsis
Cover of the book First Refuge by Helen Koukoutsis
Cover of the book The Wooden Gate by Helen Koukoutsis
Cover of the book Out of the Ashes by Helen Koukoutsis
Cover of the book A Season and a Time by Helen Koukoutsis
Cover of the book Of Cheese and Chutney: Selected essays by Helen Koukoutsis
Cover of the book The Lilac Bow by Helen Koukoutsis
Cover of the book The Fortune Bird by Helen Koukoutsis
Cover of the book War Stories by Helen Koukoutsis
Cover of the book Life Will Find You Again by Helen Koukoutsis
Cover of the book Life Given by Helen Koukoutsis
Cover of the book If God is a Poet by Helen Koukoutsis
Cover of the book These Purple Years by Helen Koukoutsis
Cover of the book Between Two Hemispheres by Helen Koukoutsis
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy