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However, let us return to the poetry itself which, according to some, "has become an orphan" since some fragmentary lines have started travelling around the city, although no one denies that the verse "I was becoming a stranger, a total stranger" has provoked a huge response regardless of the fact that it has been separated from his poem "Myris: Alexandria, A.D. 340". Dimitris Papanikolaou, a lecturer in Modern Greek Language and Culture at Oxford University and a scientific advisor to the Onassis Cultural Centre would say (not, however, in connection with the particular campaign), "The separation of verses from the context can be very creative and Cavafy himself knew it. On the one hand, he provokes the readers to make multiple interpretations, sometimes verging on irony and he provokes them to seek the original text and the poetic idea with a fresh look on the other. It is very easy to discover Cavafy with his Ithaca, with his Thermopylae, it is very easy to reprint his classical works but you do not provoke discussion in this way; you are just praising yourself, provoking yawns and creating passive readers. The question is how to drive people to read the passages again, to think them over again and even to consider their specific use. I find some of the selected excerpts inappropriate too but I totally agree with the general philosophy of the campaign. Moreover, I enjoy all the fuss on the web. A real tide of disputes, creativity, irony and parody, has begun to rise from all sides."

The campaign has just begun

Aphroditi Panagiotakou, deputy director and communications manager of the Onassis Cultural Centre states, "You can make safe choices and you will be at ease. We could do without a scandal, but if we assess things, the fact that today we have that discussion and those disputes about poetry is healthy, since a political motive is not being sought behind our actions. The same happens during performances. While some are applauding, others are leaving the room. Risk for us is a position, not for the sake of the challenge but for the sake of avoidance of painless solutions. In addition, we are talking about a campaign that has just begun. This campaign is the first sign indicating that we want Cavafy to move around the streets of our city, but also to present him to the people who have not known him or who have found it difficult to reach him. For example, we have published for the first time his works in Braille, for the visually impaired."

"Hip-hop" approach

We are anticipating the continuation of the campaign (and possibly, the subsequent reactions) since the activities of the Cultural Centre for the period 2013 - 2014 will be announced on 29 October. They include the already announced education programmes in secondary schools (for now, in the neighbourhoods of Ambelokipi, Koukaki, Imitos, Kipseli and Nikea) within which the pupils will study Cavafy through hip-hop and comics. "Someone might say, ‘What are you doing?’ Is it possible to recreate a poem through hip-hop or comics? For us, this approach is not irrelevant as it shows absolute respect for the poet who had never followed the beaten track," says Aphroditi Panagiotakou. The future events involve cooperation with artists such as George Koumendakis, Konstantinos Vita, Yiannis Angelakas, Μechanimal, who will create songs using just one word from a poem by Cavafy. "You do not understand a lot when you hear just one word but if a song contains the word "return" and the music influences other levels of consciousness then it will transfer to the listener the emotions of Cavafy’s poems", continues Aphroditi Panagiotakou. In any case, whatever your opinion on the subject, you can express it during the discussion that will be held at the Onassis Cultural Centre in November under the title "What happens when Cavafy gets into mass transport means". We should have a dialogue at least, "though in spite of everything we do go forward."