"TRUE POETS ARE ALCHEMISTS THAT AREN'T AWARE OF THEIR TRUE NATURE. SUCH IS THE CASE WITH THE CYPRIOT POET CHRISTODOULIDES"
Professor of Heritage, Art and Culture Mohammed Elrazzaz on Giorgos Christodoulides poetry “In the moment when the cup falls to the floor and smashes into a hundred shards, you realize the value of wholeness; that what we call entire is on the verge of smashing.” Selected poems of Giórgos Christodoulides True poets are alchemists that aren’t aware of their true nature. Such is the case with the Cypriot poet Christodoulides, whose selected poems I came to savour in the nostalgic cafés of Nicosia thanks to a recommendation from Dena Kyriakides. These are poems that, like revelations, leave you with no room for denial. Here, guilt becomes a prelude to remorse, and only metaphor can liberate us from the wearisome tyranny of reality, but not from the blemishes and bruises that embellish our beauty…for what is beauty without imperfections? Christodoulides draws inspiration from his land, his people; he also toys with intertextuality and “evokes” the great poets that he loves from as
