`marabou: exotic bird, related to the stork, with white and gray plumage, a bare pink neck and head, and a characteristic inflated pouch at the base of its neck, a strong and thick beak, and very thin and long legs. It lives in Africa and Southeast Asia. The word comes from Arabic, where it means ascetic, hermit.` Marabou is the first poetry collection by Nikos Kavvadias and was first published in 1933 by Kyklos. Since then, it has been published 4 times by Galaxias (1961-1971), 16 times by Kedros (1975-1989), and from April 1990 to June 2000, 13 times by Agra. It contains the following 22 quatrain poems (written with a methodical combination of partly paroxytone and partly interwoven rhyme): Marabou, A Cadet on the Bridge in Time of Danger, The Cats of the Cargo Ships, A Knife, Letter to the Poet Caesar Emmanuel, Pilot Nagel, I Have a Pipe, The Monkey of the Indian Port, A Black Stoker from Djibouti, Gabrielle Didot, The Prayers of the Sailors, Aboard the `Aspasia`, Letter from Marseille, Captain Fletcher, Letter from a Sick Person, Mal du depart, Our Bow, William George Allum, Kafar, Coaliers, Black List, Parallels. The collection is dedicated to his friend Mema Galiatsatos. It is adorned with a frontispiece by Yiannis Tsarouchis. [Excerpt from text on the publisher's website]