Transcending the Dilemma, Blowing out the Moon, the poetry of Philip Hasouris

Transcending the Dilemma, Blowing out the Moon, the poetry of Philip Hasouris


article by Michael T. Steffen


There is something to be said, in this age of great technical production, of an art that sinks through the concern for its production to attain the primary language of human thought in crisis, the self-doubt and humility exemplified in the poems of Philip Hasouris in his new book Blow out the Moon.

Fred Marchant has called Hasouris “unflinching, devoted and determined,” and indeed Hasouris’s approach is that of a documentary film maker, close inside, though not literary like James Joyce and T.S. Eliot, reminiscent of those masters of Modernism in his side-stepping of conventional written language to trace the stream of his thoughts as they come in their anti-heroic uncertainty, contradiction and even exacerbation at the limits of comprehending experience.

In the middle of the night
I felt you leave,
the pillow empty,
hollow sound of the clock echoed time.

It was just me crying.
It was just you closing the door.

The morning wept on the outside world
no rainbows,
empty sound of nothing
edged through my body.

It was just me walking into walls,
trying to find my way
stumbling graceless into the unknown,
demanding to make sense.

Again and again thrown into similar dilemmas of the spirit [of a particular context clarified by commentary from other scholars and writers throughout the book] Hasouris copes and abides with admirable dedication to his difficult inspiration, by putting words to his pain and wonder, regardless of expectations or satisfaction.

Readers find fruit in breaking down predeterminations on any author they read and live with for a time. The survival of a love documented by Blow out the Moon ultimately attests to how Hasouris’s special moments with poetry, that mirror he sits at, is near and intimate and binding to us all, transcending the permutations of our lives to the ground fact and mystery of our being.

Philip Hasouris “has been featured at many local and national venues. He was founder of the performance group, Spiritous, which combined poetry, music, and movement. He has performed with a variety of musicians in improvisational jazz/poetry, collaborated in the making of the CD, Dreams and Schemes, and a second CD with music by Adam Mujica, Cross the Double Line, and published a chapbook, Swimming Alone.

“With fellow poet, James G.H. Moore, Philip coproduced the poetry video series P.L.A.C.E.S. (Poetic Language Artful Communication Elemental Speech), filming poets in their homes, creative space and natural surroundings, giving the audience a virtual tour of the inner workings of poetry.

“Philip is the Co-host of the Brockton Library Poetry Series, www.gbspa.org.”

Blowing out the Moon by Philip Hasouris is available for $15 from
Beachcomber Press
27 Strawberry Lane
Scituate, MA 02066