It’s not the first time that, in politics, poetry is invoked to say a lot (and harsh things) with few words. This demonstrates the value and power of poetry, which we otherwise forget, preferring easily digestible and simple slogans.
During the election campaign, when Andreas Mavroyiannis was asked to give his opinion about his opponent, he chose to cite the title of the poem by Cavafy, “A Prince from Western Libya”, the verses of which describe a ruler who pretends to be something he is not.
Likewise, Averof Neofytou, as the president of DISY, when he “imported” Loucas Fourlas to politics, welcomed him with verses from Cavafy’s poem “The First Step”.
“To have come this far is no small achievement: what you have done is a glorious thing. Even this first step is a long way above the ordinary world. To stand on this step you must be in your own right a member of the city of ideas.”
He offered him the step by including him as a top candidate for the European Parliament. And Fourlas responded, also in the spirit of Cavafy, about the journey to Ithaca and the great yes.
Now it’s the turn of Manolis Anagnostakis and his poem “It Wasn’t His Fault” (which, by the way, has been set to music by Mikis Theodorakis and sung by Vasilis Papakonstantinou). “It wasn’t his fault, he was like that… Was your will small, was your pain great, the damage was in the balance, it’s always someone else’s fault.”
This is in response to Anastasiades’s comments about “every bitter person.” (Anastasiades might invoke some lyrics by Angela. Maybe something like “I have nothing to say to you / nor do I want to see you again…”).
However, Annita wants to interrupt this poetic interlude by calling on the two former presidents of her party “to say less or even nothing about the past” and “to leave behind the bitterness”, hinting at public psychotherapy, prioritising the good of the party and Cyprus.
“If we care about DISY, if we care about our Cyprus, let less be said or whatever belongs to the past stay there,” she said.
In other words, let’s hide these things under some rug or hide to get by. Generally, let’s shut up.
Even though all this is very tedious, poetry is interesting.
Manolis Anagnostakis has written another poem as well. “Words have to be hammered like nails” is the title:
“You’re betraying Poetry again, you’ll tell me,/ You’re using it again as a means, a pack-mule, For your sinister objectives/ Tell me what you have not betrayed/ You and your kind, for years and years,/ So you’re left without eyes to see, without ears to hear, with lips sealed and you say nothing…/ Words have to be hammered like nails/ If they’re not to be lost in the wind”.