I've been playing this video ad infinitum lately:

(If it's not playing, try this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLZYa5l2z0I.)

Click to view

This is poetess Kiki Dimoula (one of the finest Greek poets) reciting her poem 'The Periphrastic Stone'. The music by Anemos is evocative, if a little saccharine: I could do without it. But I found the poem itself ( Read more... )

I was walking to work yesterday morning, when that line from The Waste Land came to me, out of the blue and a relatively empty mind. I muttered it to myself a few times, not even being sure if it was right. I thought it might have been "December is the cruellest month", and that I only confused it because it is April now, and because of the barrage ( Read more... )

Μιά κάποια λίγη Πεθυμιά εσήκωσεν το νου μου,
και δυό φτερούγες ήκαμε μέσα του λογισμού μου.
Τούτες την Πεθυμιάν πετού', στον Ουρανόν την πάσι,
κι όσο σιμώνου' τση φωτιάς, τσι καίγει εκείν' η βράση.
Και πάραυτας γκρεμνίζομαι, ωσά φτερά δεν έχω,
γιατ' ήφηκα τα χαμηλά, και ( Read more... )