Exercices for losing the extra kilos in short time period

Lie down. On something hard.
At first, the comforts' spinal bones may hurt
but slowly slowly they will straighten
the inactivity's back.

Retract now your bad habits
in a rigid line.
Bring your hands gently to your chest
like temporary wings of temporary angels.
Do not change position.
The supine oars deftly.

Do not be afraid. Fear fattens
it contains hunger.
Do not chew sensations. They have many calories.
They cause the deprivations' fat.

Your eyes closed please, completely
no misinterpretable crevices
no sight lollipops.
They radiate ultraviolet nostalgia.

Exhale deeply, stay still
do not breathe do not breathe
it runs the risk to show
only half of the boatman in the x-ray.

Let go now on the sleep's slide.

I will play you a tape, relax,
of your mother's lullaby
there there my baby
willing or not will say.

Weigh yourselves. Stand still please
your body contains an inlaid scale.


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Personal notes: 

This poem was published as part of the collection 'Greenhouse grass' (2005).
Its title is long and unusual for a Dimoula poem, but it is successful in setting the tone and the overall narrative of the poem. 

There are perhaps several ways to interpret this poem. I understand it best by accepting the premise that the poet is addressing herself, and that the exercise regime central to the poem's narrative relates to eliminating the 'weight' of mortality as carried by someone who is approaching old age. 

Here are some observations that support this interpretation.

In the first stanza, the poet suggests that the person performing the exercises has been neglecting her physical (and perhaps mental) health, living a life of comforts and indolence. These attitudes to life become more tempting as one gets older, and Dimoula is approaching old age. 

In the second stanza, the poet describes a set of hands as 'temporary wings of temporary angels'. This is a direct reference to mortality. She also insists that one remains in the supine position, which is a common burial position. [In the fourth stanza, she insists also that the eyes remain completely shut, and then, later on, asks her subject to let go and 'sleep', which also alludes to dying]

In the third and fourth stanzas, the poet reveals the sources of one's 'extra kilos'. These include 'fear', 'nostalgia', and 'deprivation', which tend to exacerbate as one gets older. At old age, one fears dying, one longs for the past, the sensations of a younger age, and everything that one has been deprived of in life. 

The fifth stanza provides the stronger clue for this interpretation. Dimoula switches narratives and instead of addressing a person performing fitness exercises, she addresses someone lying on a medical bed about to take an x-ray. It is typical of Dimoula to switch into such contrasting narratives  - from a regime (and a lying position) that is mostly associated with fitness and health to a regime that is associated with illness and death. 

The seventh stanza reiterates themes of nostalgia and makes a direct connection between the beginning and the end of one's life. A small baby falls asleep to her mother's lullaby, while an old person is about to fall asleep forever. 

The poem's last stanza is Dimoula's answer to the 'weight' of her mortality. She acknowledges that it is part of herself, something that no exercise may be able to eliminate, but also something that depends on her own perception and coping mechanisms. 

The selective eternity

'Trust me I will love you forever'
death reiterates every minute
to eternity

and groaning
out of miserable certainty

'oh why aren't you a liar'

eternity curses death.

Untitled

It's raining with absolute sincerity.
Therefore the sky is not a rumour
it exists
and so much so that the soil is not
the only solution
as every indolent dead man claims.


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Personal notes: 

This poem was published as part of the collection 'We moved next door' (2007). 
Although brief, it bears complex ideas about mortality, spirituality, and human perceptions. 

The poem's first image involves a natural phenomenon, 'rain', which is often introduced by artists (literally or figuratively) to allude to pessimistic or dark views and gloomy circumstances. The poem's other images (a sky, the soil we use to bury the dead) may suggest that Dimoula is using 'rain' to refer to our negative perceptions about spirituality and our own mortality. 

However, Dimoula pairs this phenomenon with the abstract concept of 'sincerity'. What does it mean to rain 'with absolute sincerity'? Sincerity can have a negative and positive effect. It can hurt you, but it can also set you free. The poet perhaps suggests that this is the same with any feelings or perceptions provoked by 'rain'. 

The poet continues to verify the existence of a 'sky', a phenomenon that alludes to positive feelings about our mortality. For Christians, heaven is somewhere in the sky, a symbol of hope. It is interesting that what verifies such a positive concept ('sky') is the 'sincere' existence of a perceivably negative concept ('rain'). 

The poem's next image involves the soil, which here symbolises death or any other feelings and perceptions about the end of things. The poet calls these feelings and perceptions 'indolent'. They are indolent because they take the end for granted, and do not contemplate other 'solutions'. Dimoula has offered the 'sky' as a solution to this 'soil'. She is suggesting that what we may perceive to be a dead end, can be in fact an endless road.