Cinematic Poetry for Visionaries

"For the Shop": For the Extraordinary

This issue of Cinematic Poetry for Visionaries features a Cavafy poem titled "For the Shop."

Being singular, creative, imaginative, and visionary, Cavafy tells us, may not appeal to everybody. But that's not a reason to stop. Ever.

The slideshow below features the poem in the original Greek (left pages), and in English translation (right pages), a few verses per slide, followed by the entire set of images, and the entire poem. Click on the image for a pop-up.

Coda: A long time ago I started pairing Cavafy poems with sets of images, a process I termed "cinematic poetry." Think of it as storyboarding for a micro-movie whose script is the poem.

Cavafy poems feature succinct descriptions of spaces, places, and objects--the things I care about and design for.

Cinematic Poetry for the Power-Hungry

"Anna Komnina": Ambitious, Vicious & Deceptive Politics are Timeless & Timely

This issue of Cinematic Poetry for the Power Hungry features a Cavafy poem titled "Anna Komnina," a Byzantine princess. This poem was written more than 100 years ago; it features a politician who lived 1000 years ago, yet the deception & ambition & political machinations of this obscure episode in Byzantine history sums up our current political climate.

In her autobiography, the Alexiad, Anna Komnina, the Emperor's first-born, piously laments the loss of her husband. But Cavafy tells us her only lament was losing the throne to her brother, despite her machinations and plots. It's a story of shameless self-promotion, fake news, and political intrigue. Kind of like 2020.

The slideshow below features the poem in the original Greek (left pages), and in English translation (right pages), a few verses per slide, followed by the entire set of images, and the entire poem. Click on the image for a pop-up.

Coda: A long time ago I started pairing Cavafy poems with sets of images, a process I termed "cinematic poetry." Think of it as storyboarding for a micro-movie whose script is the poem.

Cavafy poems feature succinct descriptions of spaces, places, and objects--the things I care about and design for.

Pandemic Haiku

I was born and raised on a Greek island, but when I visited the island of Manhattan, I discovered I was also a born New Yorker--an Upper West Sider, to be precise.

The last few months have been very difficult here in New York but for many of us it became urgent to keep being creative; to reach out to our neighbors; to support our community.

And so, when another Upper West Sider, Michael O' Connor, posted some pandemic haiku on NextDoor (that he had previously submitted to the Kaiser Health Newsletter), suggesting that other neighbors could contribute by replying to his post, several of us did. Michael's idea gave people a creative and fun forum and, in his words, "an outlet for pent-up energy."

I then suggested to contributors that I pair the haiku with images and create a cinematic poetry blog entry here.

The slideshow below features this collective, community-based creative effort. Click on the image for a pop-up.