NAME: Nikolaos (Nikolos) Nomikos of (Unknown father’s name) and (Unknown mother’s name)
PLACE OF BIRTH: Amorgos
PLACE OF DEATH: Amorgos
PLACE OF RESIDENCE: Amorgos
SPOUSE / MAIDEN NAME: K. / Simou
PROFESSION: Fisherman, Farmer
Instrument: Folk Poet – Rhyme Improviser
The following biographical note on the folk poet Nikolas G. Nomikos was written by the Amorgian philologist – researcher Georgios A. Mavros. It was extracted from the archive of the latter which was granted in its entirety to the Digital Audiovisual Folk Music Archive of Amorgos and its Islands. The structure, the spelling, and the punctuation of the text in Greek have been preserved. The English translation has been mildly edited.
The most famous folk poet and rhyme improviser of Amorgos. He is still alive at the age of 95. His poems are characterized by a strong satirical, poignant mood. He rarely wrote about love. His themes: characters, situations, self sarcasm.
Some passages reach vulgarity and others the subtle island irony, the playfulness. He lived under miserable conditions. Not because of poverty, since at least in his youth and into his mature years he had property sufficient to live on. More because of character and habit. A type of Diogenes. Calm, indifferent to money he was an avid gambler. His house was a hut or a stable depending on the season. Roofless, full of rubbish. Nikolos slept in the shed, closing the door and climbing up and down from the roof of the house using a beam and stepping on the recesses in the wall. His mattress was made of burlap, old clothes, newspapers. Other times (during summers) he resided in caves, with a headstone and a door bed. Often he slept inside the ruined church in Saint Saranda. He cooked his food in a clay pot, left it until mouldy and then ate it. It is rumored that he even ate carcasses. Other times he mixed leftover food with hot beverages (rosemary, pennyroyal). Today he lives with his daughter in Athens, whom he had being married to K.I. Simou.
He recited his poems in the two cafes at Vroutsi during regular conversations. His main occupation was the resale of fish, cultivating grocery and owning a few goats. Famous are his poetic battles with D. Exarhopoulos, an equally formidable rhyme improviser from Catapola. Nikolos Nomikos was Illiterate.