Poetry

 

A special event we attended recently was the annual Thessaloniki Book Fair. Our niece, Maria, had travelled from Sweden to promote her recently published poetry book. Here she is with her very proud uncle at Poetry Box, where a collection of poets – a pod? – discussed whose works had influenced them.

                                                  

  I’d have preferred to hear exactly what features they had introduced to their writing as a result of that influence. Otherwise, it could have, and did in places, not go far beyond name-dropping. There I go with my Lit Crit background! ☹

It does take courage to expose your inner self in text form and she’s obviously very excited about this new phase in her life. We wish Maria all the very best for her book sales and her career.

                                                            

Writing in any form, in my view, consists of several different phases. I have devised this procedure when encouraging my final year Lykeio students to produce text as part of their US university application.

1)      Frequently it is our emotional response to something, our caring, which impels us to write. We need to select a subject that fires and inspires us as it needs to be strong enough to sustain us through the process. Yet, these emotions need to be measured, contained, controlled, otherwise coherence and clarity can be lost.

2)      Then we move beyond the emotional to the cerebral, the conceptual phase: why do we feel this way? Why does it affect us? What do we learn from it? Try to see if there is something that will appeal to others. Remember we write to convey a personal perspective on a public platform. We’re not simply expressing our feelings, that would be personal, diary-writing. We need to find universality. From this initial brainstorming, we select key ideas, refining them, prioritizing them, ordering them linking to produce overall coherence.

3)      At the final stage we consider our language, our mode of expression. We do this with our audience and the effect we wish to engender in them firmly in our mind. Choose words that merge, match or contrast to give maximum effect on the reader. The language must be appropriate, expressive, exact.

Poetry is the most complex form of expression: its very nature is that it is condensed in meaning, concise, succinct. It is crafted, it has style, it is an art form.

It has particular characteristics such as rhyme, lines, metre - the rhythm structure of a verse or stanza.

 Let me give some examples of different poetic forms:

Haiku

A Japanese form originating in the 17^th century, it is condensed, often with references to nature, of 3-line stanzas, usually of a 5-7-5 syllable count.

 This is one I wrote on the demise of a beloved dog.

                                            

Dear Ivan has gone

All around us nature mourns

In sweet shades of mauve.

 

 We loved him dearly

 He brought sunshine to our lives

Kalo tou taxidi.       (This is a Greek traditional condolences wish: May he have a good journey)

  

 On a lighter note, I leave you this poem by Brian Bilston, quirky observer and word-craftsman! Enjoy!

                                             

 

Spring

Recently the householders were on a trip to Crete, a niece was holidaying in Barcelona and a friend who was in China had invited me to join her – I felt a tad envious!!  However, on Easter Sunday, having finished the household chores, I walked down the dirt road to offload the rubbish. Here we don’t have collection services nor do we have bins nearby. So there I was, swinging the refuse bags when I stopped to enjoy the environment.                                                        

 Nature was beginning to wake up, the cold wind had stopped and the atmosphere was warming up, birds were singing and poppies were growing in swathes all around. And in that moment I felt at peace, contentment, the sense that there was nowhere else I would rather be. You may not feel such emotions frequently but when you do everything merges into a pleasing life tapestry and your spirits are charged.

                                                    

But this surge of nature brings hard work: in the vineyard the plants are beginning to bud but the grass there has become quite unruly. Weeding around the bases is done initially and then the tractor clears the channels between the rows.                                                     

Then you can sit back and enjoy ….. the fruits of someone else’s labours! 😊

                                               
The picture below was taken one week after the previous ones and you can see how fast the vines leaf - some even already sport embryonic grapes!                                             

My great joy is when the roses start to bud; these are the first ones: rich crimson blooms.

                                              

The angelica bush will soon be in flower. I have my vase ready to display them both in a glorious fragrant nosegay.

Easter

 Behold a beautiful harbinger of warmer weather. Here in Greece, lilac is called the Easter tree. Sadly, it doesn’t last long once cut, but its fragrance is intoxicating.  

                                                            

Another tree flourishing now is known as the Judas tree, again equally beautiful with deep mauve flowers, and verdant green leaves which follow.

                                                         

Typical Orthodox Easter preparations are baking the plaited sweet bread, painting the eggs and hanging red material on the balcony to indicate you’re doing so, the lamb/ goat rotating on the spit, emanating delicious aromas. The local Peristera tradition of building a bonfire and burning the Judas effigy on top has been done too – it’s all done and dusted.                                                    

What remain are memories of the festive fare enjoyed at the table of friends.  We really appreciate this invitation as our host is an ex-chef! Being from Thrace he had made, as well as lamb, potatoes, meatballs and salads, a dish called tzsigero sarmas, the closest thing I’ve found to haggis.  Our haggis is more delicately chopped and the innards’ flavours tempered with the inclusion of oatmeal.  Lots of preparation is  involved and it was very tasty! Above is a close-up

                                                      

Our householders spent Easter in Crete with their daughter and her French in-laws - all accommodated in three villas complete with pool. in store. Minas is very proud of his beautiful French hens who lay pretty, little eggs. When they returned, I made a dish for them unknown and were invited to cut into.  Imagine his surprise to find their eggs nestling inside. The scotch eggs were a success, I’m glad to say.                                                     

That was our first-of-the-season meal out on the patio and we raise our glasses to many more! 😊

                                                     

Turkish .... Incite ?

 

The polemic situation throughout Turkey continues. Recep Tayyip Erdogan faces his greatest challenge ever since he came to power as Prime Minister in 2003- 14. He has been President of Turkey since 2014.                                             

Since, on March 19^th, he jailed the Ekrem Imamoglu, opposition contender as presidential candidate, millions have taken to the streets in major Turkish cities.  Imamoglu is currently the elected Mayor of Istanbul, holding his position since 2019 and the main opposition party, The Republican People’s Party, has chosen him as its candidate for the next presidential elections in 2028. The municipal authorities have elected Nuri Aslam as Interim Mayor while Imamoglu remains incarcerated.                                                                                                    

 Erdogan, who has been described by his critics as authoritarian and running an elective dictatorship, is concerned about growing opposition support as indicated in recent local elections. Technically he is not allowed to stand once more as President, but it is assumed he will change the law that prohibits that!

He has been retaliating to the popular demonstrations with stiff measures: around 2,000 arrests have been made, a tv channel closed down and, several Turkish journalists have been imprisoned for …. telling it like it is.   A BBC reporter Mark Lowen, was detained and later deported for allegedly ‘being a threat to public order.’                                                   

The continued rallies indicate how popular Imamoglu and his party are.

Man challenging authoritarianism - this photo from Al Jazeera news agency says it all:

                                                 

A dervish - associated with the softer, spiritual, esoteric side of Islam - dances alone and gas-masked-up before a threatening police barricade.

Go Sufi!

Remembering with Reverence.

 Recently we observed the second anniversary of the Tempe rail disaster in which 57 people lost their lives and 81 were seriously injured. Many of the passengers on that fateful trip were university students returning to Thessaloniki after a break. Such a tragic loss of lives.  

                                                          

Many, particularly families and friends, remain angry and frustrated that no substantial progress in investigating causes has been made. They want to know why the train was travelling on the wrong line, thus causing a head-on collision with another oncoming train. There was also a huge explosion – as yet unexplained - which meant some met with a horrific death, being burned alive. Conspiracy theories abound and, sadly, the whole issue has become horribly politicised. There is, understandably, a great loss of trust in the official institutions.

                                                    

Hundreds of thousands, in Greece and globally, have congregated in major cities to express their solidarity with the victims’ families, honour the victims’ memory and to exert pressure on the authorities to deal with the issue, to come up with substantial findings  and to mete out the appropriate punishment to those responsible.

                                           

As our outgoing President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, said:

‘Two years later, the demand for truth, accountability and justice is universal and of fundamental importance for our state.’

 Above, The Tree of Souls – The Beginning, was erected in Athens to commemorate the victims – it was from there the train set out. Below the equivalent Tree of Memory in Thessaloniki, records the passengers’ names on the birds at its base.                                         

 

I marked the sad event and these emotions with the following poem:

                                           

 

Remembering with Reverence

The day dawned damp,

Mati memories mingled with Tembi tears.

A pall smothering the city

Expressing its compound sorrow.

Tragedies following inept operators,

Unaccountable decision-making, inadequate systems –

They should have returned

They should have returned.

May they be remembered with respect and dignity

Assemblies unsullied by polemic,

 Political point-scoring and syndicated agendas.

We march into the future

With hopes for a brighter, safer future.

In quiet contemplation for those who have gone

May their souls rest in peace!

Teeth Experiences …Two

 

After my unfavourable ‘impressions’ expressed in my last post, I am happy to convey relevant developments in technology. King Dental announced last spring:

Uncomfortable impressions that leave patients gagging are no longer the standard. The iTero scanner replaces the physical putty and tray. Now dentists can use a handheld wand to capture thousands of images and render them into a 3D representation. Additionally, they can send these files straight to technician labs electronically, eliminating the need for physical molds altogether. The iTero’s high-tech imaging dental technology provides detailed and accurate scans, enhancing the precision of dental impressions. This precision is crucial for crafting tailored treatment plans and well-fitting restorations.

                                                 

So those of you who may soon need to have impressions taken have missed out on those gagging experiences ……  by the skin of your teeth!! :o And the description of the scanner is very apt – a wand. It sounds as if what it’s capable of achieving is nothing short of magic!

My latest adventure follows on from noticing that my long-term shaky teeth had become a bit shakier and were beginning to affect my bite.  So, off to my peridontician.  I stressed that I really didn’t want to undergo any more implants – I probably don’t have the required bone density, anyway.

I did say I had considered bringing him some wire and string to see if he could rig up some stabilizing system. To which he replied not to laugh but that he had a colleague who had achieved considerable success gluing teeth together!!

So, in January I had the treatment done. Both the orthodontist and periodontician - I feel so looked after - decided to go the conservative route in dealing with loose tooth syndrome and the former performed tooth bonding -ie .... he glued them together!! That sounds very simplistic but it was a complicated procedure that lasted a jaw dropping, literally , 75 minutes.

                                                

My teeth were firstly descaled – ie cleaned to remove any plaque or tartar which could impede the bonding. Then the surface is roughened by an acidic preparation to make it porous enough to accept the application of a bonding agent - I like to think mine was called James!

This was smoothed and dried by a special UV light instrument then a further layer of a dental cement containing strengthening fibres was set down.                                                        

At each stage both dentist and patient take a welcome breather for the materials applied to properly set. Then the final layer was added – it could be a resin epoxy, silica or even a plastic/glass mix. Whatever it was, the new veneer doesn’t irritate the tongue at all and feels very comfortable. This was thanks to the meticulous care the dentist took to mould and smooth at each level. Being set behind my teeth the work is non-detectable.

 I feel very privileged to have had access to high technology and the skilled specialist hands of two talented, caring professionals. I like my food – it was my impaired bite that took me for treatment. And though I have confidence in them and their art, do excuse the word play when I say I am now appreciative but - eating rather gingerly!

Get Your Teeth Into This

 

Many of us have reached the stage when we are ‘long in the tooth‘- I  guess it refers to the fact that as we grow older, our gums recede thereby giving the impression of our teeth lengthening. Spoiler alert: there are likely to be more such idioms to follow as we explore my dental history and experiences.                                                           

 Members of our family started out at a dental disadvantage, inheriting a genetic tendency towards poor teeth and coming from an area with peat water – being acidic this can promote caries. ☹

We talk about giving our eye-teeth to obtain/achieve something close to our hearts. Well, I lost mine to a Campbeltown dentist who, since my jaw was too small to accommodate them, decided to gouge them out before they had properly come through the gums. Clearly hygiene wasn’t what it should have been and the two healthy front teeth developed abscesses and had to come out. A dental plate was made to replace them - on my 18^th birthday. I will never forget the horrors of all that! :o

Years later my molars began to give out – apparently deep drilling had weakened them. I often wonder if things would have been different had I gone less frequently for ‘treatment’. :(

 So I ended up in the chair of a private practitioner who was also Professor of Dentistry at the local university in Thessaloniki. I suspect I was a guinea pig for relatively new techniques. One memory was coming out of my hour-long session with four newly placed posts and his surgical coat looking like that of a butcher – my blood!                                                     

A little while later I was briefly in London and met up with a secretary we used to have in the British Council, Kuwait.  She had a great sense of humour and was a great fund of jokes to the extent that sometimes we had to avoid phoning each other’s office to avoid gales of laughter in the workplace!  As you can imagine, we had loads to talk about and the time flew by. As we headed off to our respective taxis, I suddenly remembered I had to tell her something newsworthy. I indicated my jaw as I called over, ‘I’ve just had implants put in’.  In response, she opened her coat, arched her back, posing proudly with a mischievous smile to say, ‘So have I!’  The cabbies’ faces were a picture!

But I digress: back to the dentist’s chair. The implant procedure itself, given plenty of anesthesia, is painless but it is nerve-wracking to hear your jawbone being drilled into.  Temporary caps are placed on top of the posts and you wait for gums to heal and posts to take. Lots of impressions, measurements, bite checks are taken/done to ensure that the final substitutes will be comfortable and look natural. We even got to the point of choosing the appropriate shade from a Dulux-type colour card!                                                 

I’m going to end this by recounting one of my worst experiences in The Chair. Once, while taking an impression of my lower jaw, my dentist got chatting to me. When the time came to remove the putty-filled tray, the dratted thing wouldn’t budge! She pulled and hauled - and you know it feels as if your entire jaw will be dislodged - but to no avail. :o                                               

Now I am claustrophobic and the thought that this plastic container full of hardened alginate was firmly embedded in my mouth was terrifying. Amid sounds of gasping and gulping, (mine!) she had to drill to break the tray and remove it piece by piece She did give me a day or two respite but we had to repeat the impression-taking again.  Double gasp and gulp!!