The poet Michael Mitra is the original inspiration for World Poetry Day, which is celebrated every year on March 21. The Greek poet, in the fall of 1997, proposed to the Society of Writers that the celebration of poetry be adopted in Greece, as in other countries, and that a specific day be set for it.
The day of the vernal equinox
His proposal arrived by letter in the hands of the poet and poetry scholar Kostas Stergiopoulos, then president of the Society of Writers. The poet Lydia Stefanou proposed as a day of celebration March 21, the day of the vernal equinox, which combines light on the one hand and darkness on the other, like poetry, which combines the bright face of optimism with the dark face of mourning. The first Poetry Day was celebrated in 1998, at the old post office in Kotzia Square.
The rationale for the decision
Lydia Stefanou, one of the well-known poetic voices of Post-War Poetry, said that the first day of Spring is the right day for the celebration of Poetry. And Vassilis Vassilikos, ambassador to UNESCO, suggested March 21 as the day to proclaim World Poetry Day. At the General Conference of UNESCO, in October 1999, March 21 was declared World Poetry Day. Here is the reasoning behind the decision:
“World Poetry Day will enhance the image of poetry in the media, so that poetry is no longer considered a useless art, but an art that helps society find and strengthen its identity. Highly popular poetry readings may contribute to a return to orality and the socialization of live spectacle, and celebrations may be an occasion to strengthen poetry’s links with the other arts and philosophy, so as to redefine Delacroix’s phrase “No there is art without poetry””…
“There is no art without poetry”
Highly popular poetry readings may contribute to a return to orality and the socialization of live spectacle, and celebrations may be an occasion to strengthen poetry’s links with the other arts, as well as with Philosophy, to redefine the phrase of Delacroix “There is no art without poetry.”
What You Kill Is Yours Forever – 1996
Lyrics: Yiannis Angelakas
Music: Holes
I bury you and cry
tired fire,
I know it’s my fault
that you no longer exist.
But now I can shut up,
i can laugh
i can fly
with two broken wings.
i can fly
with two broken wings,
to love you
even if you don’t exist anymore.
i can hear you
I can see you,
i can touch you
even if you don’t exist anymore.
As night falls everything sweetens in my soul,
my fears become happy scarecrows,
they set up a dance in my theoretic cell,
an out of tune band is singing to me…
What you kill is yours forever,
what you kill is yours forever…
I bury you and cry
spent fire,
I know it’s my fault
that you no longer exist.
But now I can remember,
i can forget
i can fly
with two broken wings.
i can fly
with two broken wings,
to love you
even if you don’t exist anymore.
I can reach you
i can lose you
i can touch you
even if you don’t exist anymore.
As night falls everything sweetens in my soul,
my fears become happy scarecrows,
they set up a dance in my theoretic cell,
an out of tune band is singing to me…
What you kill is yours forever,
what you kill is yours forever…
The city celebrates World Poetry Day
This year marks the 25th anniversary of World Poetry Day. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary, the Society of Writers, a non-profit association founded in 1981 with honorary President Odysseus Elytis, organizes “Poetry and Cinema” at the Trianon cinema, with guests Kallia Papadakis, Anna Afentoulidou, Nikos Gelias, Kora Karvounis, Nana Papadaki, Dimitris Papanikolaou and Alexandra Sakellaropoulou, who talk about the commonalities between the two art forms (21/3, 8 pm).
The Ianos bookstore honors the poet Mitsos Papanikolaou, 80 years after his death. In the event on Tuesday 21/3 (7 p.m.), poets, writers, painters, composers, singers and journalists are preparing a great tribute to the art of poetry, highlighted by a half-hour insert on Papanikolaou by the group of Eight with led by Nikos Anagnostakis.
On the same day, at 8 p.m., World Poetry Day turns into World Utopia Day. Sozopolis is preparing a poetic performance curated by Evgenia Grammenou, within the framework of the year “Poemokratia 2088” declared by the Romantic University.
The Poets’ Circle, in collaboration with the Theocharakis Foundation, brings to the building’s amphitheater a series of videotaped poems by Cavafy, Sikelianou, Seferi, Shakhtouri, Karouzou, Matsis Hatzilazarou, Zois Karellis, Nikos-Alexis Aslanoglou, Giorgos Ioannou, Kikis Dimoulas, Manos Eleftheriou , Yannis Varveris and others, with the theme “poetry finds us” (21/3 (8.30 p.m.).
Also, on Wednesday 3/22, at 7 p.m., the Hellenic American Union honors the iconic director Stanley Kubrick, as part of the tribute “Top Directors – Great American Films”. Scenes from landmark films such as “The Flash”, “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “The Curdy Orange” will be shown, followed by a discussion with film critics Loukas Katsikas and Yiannis Zoumboulakis.