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Welcome to Passa Tempo.
A live Cypriot transmitted,
dedicated to the sophisticated counterculture of the island.
Today our topic is...
Poetry.
Today our topic is poetry.
I think it was Bukowski who said:
'There is a lot of poetry but not a lot of poets'
so the production team brought us a small-business owner,
but we'll make do.
Stavros.
Let's begin our conversation with cats, if you feel like it.
But isn't poetry our topic?
Ok. Oresti.
Yes, yes.
I had an idea recently about an ad agency...
A fantastic ad agency,
'A fantastic ad agency'.
Yes, yes.
Let's say you would like to advertise your product.
We collaborate exclusively with the lovable four-legged critters,
cats.
We begin by posing two simple questions.
'Which deal would you like?'
'50, 100, 150 cats?'
Sorry, continue.
The second question is: 'In which areas would you like your ad to be present?'
'Strovolo, Lakatamia, Ai Demeti?'
Lefkosia for now?
For now, Lefkosia.
Maybe not Ai Demeti. You will understand, for obvious reasons.
Our ad agency utilises stray cats,
and using organic paint, using eco friendly paint,
I think the latter is more correct.
I don't know which of the two is more correct...
I like the second version.
...just to be safe...
We'll fix it.
...with regards to animal rights, we will use both.
We spray the cat using a stencil.
Perhaps if we had a cat, it would be helpful.
Let me give you an example until the production team gets the cat.
White cat, black stencil.
Black cat...
But what if...?
...white stencil.
But...what about this one then?
The perfect example.
On black and white cats...
come... leave Kermit alone...come
In the case of a bi-coloured cat,
we use a neutral colour.
For example, imagine the colour green,
or orange.
With regards to animal rights...
Yes...
Our office has taken this into account,
and we will be offering free vaccination or neutering to each cat,
depending on what each cat wants.
They are constantly on the move.
Oh yeah.
So your ad becomes a moving billboard.
You are not confined to the side of the road,
somewhere high...
Let me ask you a crucial question, one that you may not have considered.
Go on.
If the cat is run over, man?
Then your ad becomes like the regular Adboard ads.
More stationary, static.
They are lovable.
If you search YouTube, several polls show that cat videos are ranked quite high...
Cats with lasers too.
I haven't looked that up because...
Youtube it man.
I don't care.
OK man.
Can you imagine,
50, 100 cats roaming your neighbourhood,
with this stenciled on: 'Don't be a ***, come to the party.'?
Can you?
Double entendre man. Living thing.
Meaning?
Isn't it...?
It's gone, man
Let's move on.
Forget it.
Ask me something else.
I really liked 'pussycat'.
I didn't say 'pussycat'.
I said: 'Don't be a ***, come to the party'.
That's the double entendre man.
It's a *** and a cat.
You get it?
Let's say you want to advertise...
No man tell me you got it
Give me another example.
Have some.
I have some, I offered you some before.
Welcome back to Passa Tempo.
Our topic is still poetry.
Would you like to tell me what the thing is now?
It's my pet.
I've had several animals, fish, turtles, cats...
not cats.
But...
they did not survive,
so I decided to get Kermit.
He's a fern.
Why did they not survive?
They require a high degree of commitment.
Whereas this one doesn't.
All it needs is water.
OK.
So you killed them?
I didn't kill them.
You kind of let them die then?
They died all on their own.
Isn't it soft?
Isn't it perfect?
It's like *** hair.
Ask me why I don't write poetry.
The pause has given birth to good stuff,
we're sprouting.
I want you to tell me why,
even though you wrote in the past,
you no longer do so.
I think technology is to blame.
Due to its growth...
and its overproduction...
Do you mean since everyone has...?
Let's take as an example someone who has a blog...
and calls himself a writer.
Or a journalist or whatever.
Or someone who uses some music production software
and calls himself a musician.
Yes, yes, yes.
The same goes for art.
OK I get what you're saying.
People's sense of authenticity has been altered...
Yes.
Irreversibly.
For sure.
So if someone...
...who has been bombarded with a certain type of art...
...that isn't really art, it's ***...
...when he comes across real or authentic art...
...he won't be able to recognise it.
What does real art do?
What does it change or transform?
I want to put this word in our conversation...
It moves you.
Not you.
Let me say this word that I have in mind...
...transition.
I think this word makes sense.
There's a motion to be found in real art.
It creates something... maybe not creates...
It moves you either psychologically or emotionally or physically...
It triggers...
Basically it pushes you to either fall or move forward.
That's really good.
Note it down.
It pushes you... to either fall.. or move forward.
It's really good.
Because, you see, it goes backwards and forwards.
If you fall down you might stay there.
Note this down too.
'To either fall...'
'...or move forward.'
If it pushes you from behind, you move forward.
OK, let's look at it in a more...
We don't need to look at it any other way.
OK, so now that poetry has 'pushed' us here...
This was kind of poetic, wasn't it?
Yes, but don't note it down.
OK.
Did you note it down?
No.
Poetry has this image...
this connotation...
for the riff raff...
What is 'riff raff'?
Hoi polloi.
Yes.
Poetry has this image that you don't like.
Yes.
Would you like to expand on that?
I don't like the stereotypes in poetry.
OK.
This is the fault of that...
...*** Greek lit teacher you had in high school...
Do you remember her?
And most of them were Greek.
Yes. Or they spoke with a Greek accent because they studied in Greece.
Yes.
So you see it from a developmental aspect...
Will you let me finish please?
Sorry.
I'm not part of the production team so you can boss me around.
I lose my train of thought.
They have somehow convinced us that poetry...
...is about walks on the beach and holding hands...
...and staring at the moon...
Romanticism.
Yes, but it has nothing to do with that.
Romantic poetry does not even account for 10% of all of poetry.
For me, good poetry...
...has to do with irony, sarcasm...
...it concerns itself with the more realistic aspects of life...
...instead of what one wants or imagines.
When I studied poetry...
Tell us where you studied...?
No, that's not important.
My mum can tell you.
She says I studied at the best American university.
It's not the best.
That's what I told her and she believed me.
And my mum doesn't know how to use the internet...
...so there's no chance she'll ever see this.
If your parents are over fifty, you have nothing to fear of your online endeavors.
You may have a *** movie out there and they'll never know.
Do *** kids! Do ***!
A lot of people would tell me:
'OK. So you went to America and spent all that money...
... to study poetry...
why did you study poetry?'
'Isn't it a waste of time?'
'You wasted your parents money.'
It's the most irritating thing for someone to say...
...especially since they didn't give you the money to study.
The only people who can ever say this are my parents...
...who never did.
An example of Cypriots' pettiness.
Exactly.
And these same people who used to always tell me...
...'you wasted all that money to study poetry'...
...when I opened up the coffee shop...
Hold on. What's your name again?
What's your name again?
Stavros.
Unnecessary.
Welcome back to Passa Tempo.
Good morning.
Why were we not told that Cavafys was gay?
Isn't this an important thing to know...
...especially if one appreciates his love poems in particular?
Doesn't it make a difference...
...either sociologically or whatever?
Our best wishes to our archbishop.
Is it his name day today?
Yes. We wish him all the best.
May we enjoy him.
You were saying...
I believe you were...
Let's go back to why you don't write anymore.
We've established thus far...
...that the impression most people have of poetry...
...is false.
I don't write anymore not because I believe
I write the best poetry ever and someone who comes across it...
won't be able to understand it.
It's just...
I don't know...
I think I'm just having a...
You don't get to choose when you write.
I think that chooses you.
And sometimes you might have long breaks of...
6 months or a year...
Let me ask you this though.
Do you think this poses a problem for the process of writing?
The break?
Yes.
No. That's part of the process too.
Oh, right I see.
Yeah, apophatic language is part of cataphatic language, man.
Apophatic language is part of cataphatic language.
Say it there as well.
Hold on, man. Who's show is this?
You.
OK. Let me do it then.
I've heard a rumour...
...that you're looking for a co-host for the show.
And we're back.
Go on...
What brand are your sunflower seeds?
Oh right. Let's thank our sponsors.
In 2011, the award for 'Best upcoming poet' was abolished.
That was the year your book was released.
Yes.
And my book was one of the candidates.
"Anxious excessive."
Say it.
"Anxious excessive."
It was one of the candidates for this award...
but due to cut backs...
the award was abolished.
At first I was upset because for some reason...
I believed I would have won.
But then again, if I had won,
I think the psychological issues I have would multiply.
Right, because then you fall into another trip.
Yes that's right because...
if your work is recognised whilst you are living...
there's something wrong with your work.
Recite one of my poems.
I like hearing someone recite my poems.
I haven't got one here now.
Could someone go get it?
They are really slow.
Pony.
Tomorrow, midsummer...
I will flee a pony to the racing track.
I will sit with him at the bleachers.
When I get thirsty, I will betrust it to the gentleman next to me...
...and I will stand in line at the cantine.
Others excitement will excite me.
Someone will shove me and the pepsi will drop from my hand.
I will convince myself it was my fault.
The pony will be looking at me...
will look at me... sorry...
...with his big black eyes.
Once again.
Did I ruin it for you?
Yes. Go slower.
I'll repeat the last two verses.
No. It's a small one.
Sacrifice yourself in the name of poetry.
We're back for the last part of the show.
Man, you know what annoys me?
Yellow fingers from smoking...
it really irritates me.
I don't have any.
What do you watch on tv nowadays?
Tv is broken, you moron.
That's all the time we have for today.
Let's thank Stavros.
Thank you.
Would you like to plug your small business?
No.
Even better.
Thanks for watching.
Stay tuned and we'll be back.