Cyprus is an island situated in the Mediterranean Sea not far from the ancient Greek archipelago, occupied by Greek and Turkish Cypriots, the home of a Greek culture and language – the north of the island is Turkish, following violent confrontation, especially in 1974. Today we present a sample of Greek Cypriot poetry – the work of Stephanos Stephanides, Professor of English and Comparative Literature from the University of Cyprus.
He was born in Cyprus but was taken by his father to the UK at eight years old. He returned to his native land in 1992 as one of the founding lecturers of the University of Cyprus. This was after an absence of more than 30 years and a very rich experience in the UK and in other parts of the world, including Guyana where he was a lecturer and Head of Modern Languages at the University of Guyana in the 1980s.
He is a poet, essayist, translator, critic, ethnographer and documentary filmmaker as well as an academic and researcher. Among his research interests has been the Kali Mai Puja in which he became interested while living in Guyana. The influence of that religion, including its worship of the goddess Kali, can be seen in a number of the poems, such as “Sacrifice” and “Haikus for Celal”.
Stephanides is an admirer of Derek Walcott and has made reference to Walcott’s pronouncements on the kinship between the West Indian islands and the Greek Archipelago – the sea and the hundreds of islands. Cyprian Greek poetry reflects a deep consciousness of the islands and the sea, with their culture and their traditions, generating a very strong sense of place.
the old sea
between two islands
was once
my dwelling
till the horizon lifted
to let us through
so I still wonder
how to write thick poetry?
how to chant for a thin place?
Stephanos Stephanides
(from “Karpassia”)
Sacrifice
thirsty for new hope
I stir through time spent ashes
and I see you Sister
appearing in a vision
bare arms anointed with turmeric
hands bloody skinning dead goat
stretching the heart’s skin
ancient drum forever beating new life
trophy of a new day
and i
I write my rhetoric
both executioner cutlass aloft and weeping goat
sometime flesh seeking spirit
now spirit seeking flesh
peep at you in the land of the living
as you extend the skin of my heart
(Guyana & Washington DC, 1988)
Haikus for Celal
At ayiosTheodorus of Larnaca
I speak with Celal Kadir Celal
In the beginning before the beginning
Before some Cassandra sensed the pain of things to come
A twinship of incandescent mirrors
Images of Kali and Quetzacoatl
Walking through shadows of the dead
Furies shake voices and echoes in the dust
The river is silenced and the horseman rides away
Specters of sheep linger in the pen
Broken gestures claim the wild asparagus
Eyes that translate greens and oranges to words
Wild drill trails through dry riverscape
Rushing the aroma of the hidden tongue
At Ayius Theodoros of Lanarca
I speak with Celal Kadir Celal
A twinship of incandescent mirrors
Images of Kali and Quetzalcoatl
Broken Heart
on a twilight pilgrimage
I cross Venetian ramparts
I journey inward
seeking a language of lament
a muffled murmuring of old heart
graffiti on old walls
our dreams are in the tombs
tombs are in our dreams
eyes blind and eager
jalouses hiding light of white courtyards
ghosts of mustachioed men striding wicker chairs
muddied destinies at the bottom of coffee cups
shadows of grandmothers in the memory of lemon-trees
arthritic hands still joining my quilt piece piece
shielding my body
stone uterus of weeping icons
Byzantine saints whose names I don’t recall
only a fragrance a memory of ancient smoking leaves
and wailing prayers of unseen hodjas to the north
warm countenance of youth in cold helmets
is the lifeline of this ailing heart
fluttering banners
that banish me from severed arteries
and I move outward through the city gates
while I dream of east and north
of apparitions of community
a communion
with sea citrus milk of sheep
and olive
in a dawning waning earth
fragile trophy of my quest
(Nicosia, 1993 (slightly revised 2000)