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Constantine Cavafy

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Word Machine - 5 things I learned today

Gail Collins

Lawrence Weschler

Tracy K. Smith

Pico Iyer

David Cole

Oliver Sacks

Samuel Johnson

Shirley Jackson

John Keats

James Baldwin

Marilynne Robinson

Elizabeth Bishop

Charles Darwin

Nicholas Kristof

David Hockney

OwlTail

As you set out for Ithaka, hope your road is a long one… -

The Great Europeans: Constantine Cavafy - Великите Европейци: Константинос Кавафис

Linda Gregg

Waiting for the Barbariansby C.P. Cavafytranslation by Edmund KeelyWhat are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?       The barbarians are due here today. Why isn’t anything going on in the senate? Why are the senators sitting there without legislating?       Because the barbarians are coming today.       What’s the point of senators making laws now?       Once the barbarians are here, they’ll do the legislating. Why did our emperor get up so early, and why is he sitting enthroned at the city’s main gate, in state, wearing the crown?       Because the barbarians are coming today      and the emperor’s waiting to receive their leader.       He’s even got a scroll to give him,       loaded with titles, with imposing names. Why have our two consuls and praetors come out todaywearing their embroidered, their scarlet togas? Why have they put on bracelets with so many amethysts, rings sparkling with magnificent emeralds? Why are they carrying elegant canesbeautifully worked in silver and gold?       Because the barbarians are coming today      and things like that dazzle the barbarians. Why don’t our distinguished orators turn up as usualto make their speeches, say what they have to say?       Because the barbarians are coming today      and they’re bored by rhetoric and public speaking. Why this sudden bewilderment, this confusion? (How serious people’s faces have become.) Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly, everyone going home lost in thought?       Because night has fallen and the barbarians haven't come.       And some of our men just in from the border say      there are no barbarians any longer. Now what’s going to happen to us without barbarians? Those people were a kind of solution.     Alone with the Goddessby Linda GreggThe young men ride their horses faston the wet sand of Parangtritis. Back and forth, with the water slidingup to them and away. This is the sea where the goddess lives, angry, her lover taken away. Don’t wear red, don’t wear green here, the people say. Do not swim in the sea. Give her an offering. I give a coconut to protectthe man I love. The water pushes it back. I wade out and throw it farther. “The goddess does not accept your gift,” an old woman says. I say perhaps she likes meand we are playing a game. The old woman is silent, the horses wear blinders of cloth, the young men exalt in their bodies, not seeing right or left, pretendingto be brave. Sliding on and offtheir beautiful horseson the wet beach at Parangtritis.     Devereau Chumrau is an actor of stage and screen, with notable appearances in Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere at Sacred Fools in Los Angeles, Lynn Nottage's Las Meninas at the Asolo Rep, and appearances on television show including Dexter and Key &amp; Peele.   Devereau Chumrau

<h3>Waiting for the Barbarians</h3>by <a href="http://amzn.to/2bz45Jm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">C.P. Cavafy</a>translation by Edmund KeelyWhat are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?       The barbarians are due here today. Why isn’t anything going on in the senate?  Why are the senators sitting there without legislating?       Because the barbarians are coming today.        What’s the point of senators making laws now?        Once the barbarians are here, they’ll do the legislating. Why did our emperor get up so early,  and why is he sitting enthroned at the city’s main gate,  in state, wearing the crown?       Because the barbarians are coming today       and the emperor’s waiting to receive their leader.        He’s even got a scroll to give him,        loaded with titles, with imposing names. Why have our two consuls and praetors come out today wearing their embroidered, their scarlet togas?  Why have they put on bracelets with so many amethysts,  rings sparkling with magnificent emeralds?  Why are they carrying elegant canes beautifully worked in silver and gold?       Because the barbarians are coming today       and things like that dazzle the barbarians. Why don’t our distinguished orators turn up as usual to make their speeches, say what they have to say?       Because the barbarians are coming today       and they’re bored by rhetoric and public speaking. Why this sudden bewilderment, this confusion?  (How serious people’s faces have become.)  Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly,  everyone going home lost in thought?       Because night has fallen and the barbarians haven't come.        And some of our men just in from the border say       there are no barbarians any longer. Now what’s going to happen to us without barbarians?  Those people were a kind of solution. <a href="http://amzn.to/2bz45Jm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> </a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Clearing-Ground-Cavafy-Poetry-1902-1911/dp/1942281005?SubscriptionId=0ENGV10E9K9QDNSJ5C82&amp;tag=5thinileartod-20&amp;linkCode=xm2&amp;camp=2025&amp;creative=165953&amp;creativeASIN=1942281005" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> </a> <h3>Alone with the Goddess</h3>by <a href="http://amzn.to/2bFvp5L" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Linda Gregg</a>The young men ride their horses fast on the wet sand of Parangtritis.  Back and forth, with the water sliding up to them and away.  This is the sea where the goddess lives,  angry, her lover taken away.  Don’t wear red, don’t wear green here,  the people say. Do not swim in the sea.  Give her an offering.  I give a coconut to protect the man I love. The water pushes it back.  I wade out and throw it farther.  “The goddess does not accept your gift,”  an old woman says.  I say perhaps she likes me and we are playing a game.  The old woman is silent,  the horses wear blinders of cloth,  the young men exalt in their bodies,  not seeing right or left, pretending to be brave. Sliding on and off their beautiful horses on the wet beach at Parangtritis. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Too-Bright-See-Alma-Poems/dp/1555973574/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=5thinileartod-20&amp;linkId=b470dac3f25208dc40ab55bd7333c90b" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> </a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Too-Bright-See-Alma-Poems/dp/1555973574?SubscriptionId=0ENGV10E9K9QDNSJ5C82&amp;tag=5thinileartod-20&amp;linkCode=xm2&amp;camp=2025&amp;creative=165953&amp;creativeASIN=1555973574" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> </a> <a href="http://www.devereau.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Devereau Chumrau</a> is an actor of stage and screen, with notable appearances in Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere at Sacred Fools in Los Angeles, Lynn Nottage's Las Meninas at the Asolo Rep, and appearances on television show including Dexter and Key &amp; Peele. <a href="http://www.devereau.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> </a> <a href="http://www.devereau.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Devereau Chumrau</a>

Episode 6: Constantine Cavafy & Linda Gregg

Daniel Mendelsohn

Frequent Review contributor Daniel Mendelsohn speaks with Sasha Weiss about the "poet-historian" Constantine Cavafy. Mendelsohn's new translation of Cavafy's Collected Poems will be published in the spring of 2009, along with an accompanying volume of thirty unfinished poems that have never before been translated into English.

Daniel Mendelsohn on Constantine Cavafy