Ancient and Modern Greece

During this ill-favoured pandemic, on a certain day in December 2020, I was visited by Goddess Athena, not literally, of course, but almost in a number of ways, five to be exact. By the way, five is Athena's number among the twelve Olympians of Ancient Greece.

While not being Greek in any familial way, but loving Greek food and music from a young age and speaking fluently both English and French, which like many other European languages, are based on Greek in almost every style, may have helped to fashion my infatuation, actually my love, with and for Athena, Greece, and Anthi Kanéna, a fictional character that I based in part on a real Greek woman whose smile lights days and nights both in my mind and my heart.

Greece, both ancient and modern, have become my passion. I have began this month, June 2021, to learn the Greek language online, surprised to be able to read and even write somewhat after only two weeks that involved only a few hours in total. My passion must be driving me to learn it faster, but I think that it is mostly due to that Greek woman who has become the inspiration for everything that I write.

To give you a different idea of my passion for everything Greece, I have written between January 10th and June 15th of this year (2021) a total of 130 pieces, including alexandrines, free verse, haikus, tankas, sonnets, short stories, and three series all about Greece, involving Goddess Athena, Anthi Kanéna, several other colourful characters, as well as myself as two distinct individuals, namely Patrick and M. The first 13-part series took place in Athens and introduced most characters. The second 37-part series continued the story from a different perspective. The third series, which is still ongoing at 34 parts as of June 15th, focuses on the true love between two characters as they prepare to get married on September 5th (2021), having postponed the wedding from July 5th after one of the characters contracted COVID-19.

The following is an example of a poem (10 syllables per line) relating to Goddess Athena and her future mortal human lover whose name I will keep secret not to give too much away.

Athena’s Owl: Save My Evergreen

O Athena my goddess of wisdom,

I beseech you to help your humble bird.

My branch on which I stand when your hand or

Shoulder is engaged is in grave danger.

Please save my evergreen from certain death!

...

My wings have revealed to my eyes a most

Troubling plot to offer Hades my tree.

My home since I was born for your service

Will grow down to everlasting cinders,

Serving no one, nothing worth repeating.

...

Hades my dear uncle please afford me

One little favour not for me, I swear;

Spare a tree for my devoted left-hand,

My loyal owl’s birthplace and current home.

I will return the favour one blue day.

...

Methinks my good turn is in need of your

Speedy response, my dear and winning niece.

A mortal shall become your first husband,

Your love whom I will summon one black day

To join me as my minion in Hades.

...

My uncle, your price is unbecoming.

I wish to deliver one precious life

Growing in all splendour and my owl’s place.

Please reconsider your meaning, my liege;

An earthly groom is a high price to pay!

...

Niece, this is my sole and only demand;

Accept it or leave it, the tree is mine.

What say you now? I have no more spare time.

You can choose by tomorrow nightfall, your

Mortal lover, my soon to be henchman.

...

Can I equate a tree with human life?

Can my owl stand on a similar perch?

Can I unearth a mortal to love me

By the rooster’s last call to dark prayer?

Can I love a man whose life I dispense?

...

My dearest, Goddess Athena, take me!

I will gladly become your sacrifice.

I loved you since my heart opened wisely

In view of your beauty and your finesse.

To love you for one day is worth my life.

...

Pray tell your name, my adoring mortal;

Your life is not a gift to give away.

I will ask my dear father for his help;

Zeus can reason with his starless brother;

A tree and a man will be saved today.

...

Dear, Zeus, my father and god of the world;

Help me save my future husband and a

Tree from the fury and fiery embrace

Of Hades, your brother, from underground,

Where he counts poor souls every single day!

...

Zeus had some words with Hades, his brother.

The owl’s evergreen was solemnly saved.

Athena took me in for her husband.

My life has become pure heavenly bliss.

I thank you, Zeus, my god for her wisdom!

...

Why will readers follow me and my stories about ancient and modern Greece? is surely a sensible question to entertain. A love as deep as the Aegean Sea between a Greek woman and a man who was drawn to her, crossing an ocean and a sea, may inspire others to seek love in uncharted waters.

This literary enterprise represents for me a unique journey traversing time and space. While most of the continuing story involves the love between two fictional characters, it is paralleled in part in reality. Reality always beats fiction, but at the moment, it is fiction that is calling all the shots. Nonetheless, it is reality that feeds the fiction, allowing it to flourish like a garden of flowers (Anthi means flowers in Greek).

I have written extensively for close to twenty years, but no story has brought me to tears while writing it as well as to laughter, often one followed by the other. The tears are never related to sadness but are unconscious-derived when the subject at hand is the love between Anthi Kanéna and the other main character. This can be easily described as a true fulfillment of a rare occurrence of love exchanging its particulars between fiction and reality.

The issue of monetizing this passion in a perfect world seems out of tune in this unusual love song given its expanse and uncanny events. However, its gravitation towards reality renders it even more interesting, especially that I plan to eventually publish it also in Greek in Greece, perhaps hoping to move there and turn fiction into reality, and for once have reality imitate fiction.

The following text represents the first, second and third parts of the first series, which can also be read separately on Vocal. At least one part is being published every day, and that is until the already written story reaches the current point in time, with both coinciding, Zeus willing (and Vocal), before the wedding on September 5th.

Cryssarina’s First Visit - Part 1: Athena Did Not Move

For some additional background information, please refer to the poem, Fuck You M: Patrick Contra M, as well as the reply poem, Fuck You Patrick: M Contra Patrick.

With two rakish vaccine shots behind her, Cryssarina decided to take a trip, her first visit to blue-and-white Greece. She had recently learned from a Greek source, an unusual goddess-like woman, that her name may have had Greek roots, like a tree keen to find its kin amid uncaring humans and unrelenting concrete. Cryssarina? Greek? It sounded serious in her mind and her heart. She had no soul to speak of since she regarded it as a synonym for mind and also disliked the term given its religious connotations. The only gods but especially goddesses she liked happened to be Greek as well, thanks again to this special Greek woman she fondly called Anthi, short for antithesis of everything unkind.

The masked flight was awful to be blunt and concise. Most people took off their masks to eat and consume the plane’s culinary delights. Cryssarina felt sick. How could anyone eat anything even with a mask off? she thought between her blue-and-white visions of yore. No food or bathroom for a few hours seemed more than sensible in midst of a pandemic. She was used to it given her intermittent fasting, although water would also be absent during this shorter-period flight compared to her daily sweet sixteen-hour fasting. She tried to sleep throughout the air disturbances both inside the plane among the other humans and outside among the chalky clouds floating effortlessly in the cerulean sky.

Greek customs were like an Athenian breeze upon showing them her fully vaccinated form. It became as important as a passport. Cryssarina took a taxi to her hotel, rested a bit to collect her excited thoughts, took a Greek shower, and strolled outside to get some fresh air and a taste of authentic Greek cuisine. A Greek shower? I can imagine some of you wondering. It only means a shower where instead of singing anything, one sings in Greek or thinks with every cleansing movement of a Greek god or goddess. Cryssarina was thinking of Goddess Athena. She was one of the reasons she had travelled to Greece. She also hoped to find Patrick roaming around one of her statues and bring him back with her to Canada.

As she was breathing in everything Greek, she was also thinking about Anthi probably reading something worthwhile or writing something poignant and unusual. At one point, while drinking some Greek bottled water, she suddenly felt at home. It was a strange feeling to have out of the blue and the white. All three of them—M, Patrick, and her—didn’t have any Greek roots, that is unless like trees, their roots had been once connected or very related by proximity when they were born not far from the legendary Mediterranean. Maybe Athena will know, hoping she will come down from her stand for a heartfelt chat.

The Moon and the stars seemed to be Greek too in that enchanting evening. Cryssarina even looked at them from her balcony before resting for the night. What about M? some of you may have thought. M was probably writing with his other two narrators. He was actually glad to see her leaving for Greece to meet Athena and find Patrick. A part of him regretted their silly fight. But wait! I can almost feel at least one of you wondering. If Cryssarina is in Greece and M and the two remaining narrators are in Canada, who is telling this story? Who is the narrator? I cannot reveal myself in this story. I may, however, in another one, Zeus permitting, of course.

The Sun’s early rays caressed Cryssarina like a lover who had never left but remained invisible except to her heart, via her mind, of course. She asked the taxi driver to take her to the nicest statue of Athena but changed her mind on the way, requesting to be driven to the one least conspicuous instead, figuring that Patrick would probably be there, where Athena could be more easily touched. Patrick could be practical from time to time when given the right space. The driver seemed perplexed but drove her there first, knowing that she will ask him to drive her to the first statue he had in mind after but a few minutes with the almost ordinary one. How rude of him! I thought. How could Cryssarina know what was on his mind?

She kissed Athena’s feet and asked for her help, but no apparent sign from her was there to be ascertained. Athena did not move. Cryssarina looked around the place and asked around if Patrick had been seen, describing him as a cat dressed in a Santa suit. I am kidding, of course. No one there at that time had seen anyone that looked like him. She kissed Athena’s feet again and returned to the taxi, the driver smiling to himself as he was getting another ride from the same passenger.

The nicest statue was not any better, even with Cryssarina’s many kisses and prayers. Please, Zeus! she implored at one point, looking at Mount Olympus. Please, help me find Patrick! Only her heart moved but she did not give up. She came to Greece for at least two weeks, both days and nights. Perhaps she will converse with Goddess Athena on one blessed day and or find Patrick having a keto coffee not very far from her. Zeus only knows. Maybe Anthi would help.

...

Thanks in part to Anthi Psomiadou’s kindness and support! She seems to love these two words. I, of course, similarly to M, prefer other words that can be often found in many of his stories’ titles, lines and or sexy paragraphs.

...

Cryssarina’s First Visit - Part 2: Athena Moved Her Right Foot

This is the second part of a longish story. The first part needs to be read first to better understand this second part. Anthi Psomiadou has graciously agreed to be included as a fictional character in this unusual visit by Cryssarina to Greece where she hopes to speak to Goddess Athena and find Patrick who may still be alive somewhere wandering around her but possibly somewhere else.

Ancient Greece was robbed by Rome, slowly but surely. But luckily, a lot of the architecture was left almost intact, including all the gods that Rome unabashedly copied and changed their names. Modern Greece in turn was robbed by the European Union (EU) that brought it to its knees with its inhuman financial edicts reminiscent of those perpetrated by Rome. The EU is almost like Rome, especially that most highways in Europe lead to Brussels, its administrative cor non grata (heart not welcome). Yanis Varoufakis (I love him), economist and former Greek Finance Minister, is a great source for this EU blunder. But this is not a story about the EU or Brussels. Rome, however, plays a certain underlying part.

Cryssarina woke up for a second day in Athens, the city always protected by Goddess Athena, even during World War II (enough with the Roman numerals), I mean, World War Two. But where were they, the Greek gods when the Romans took over? Briefly, the Greek peninsula lost to the so-called Roman Republic during the Battle of Corinth (146 BCE) when Macedonia was turned into another Roman province. Southern Greece, however, while also under Roman control, saw a few of its key city states (poleis) remain partly autonomous and thus avoid the crippling Roman taxes and rule.

The Greek gods had decided to remain on Mount Olympus, allowing the humans to continue with their deadly war games, often betting on winners and losers. Goddess Athena was probably the only one chagrined by what she witnessed. Is it any wonder that M fell in love with her? Is it any wonder that Patrick went to look for her as he mentioned in his note, even if he was doing it for M? Is it any wider wonder that she is still loved by most Athenians and the rest of Greece as well? I am sure that even Anthi loves her.

Cryssarina surely knew this about Goddess Athena but needed help from someone local to find every public Athena statue and in the process perhaps Patrick. The hotel manager was nice enough to suggest a few places, but Cryssarina could not rely on one interested source or on a taxi driver who may take her for a ride. She left a message for Anthi on Medium, asking for her help. Anthi, the Greek goddess that she is in spirit at least happily agreed to meet her later that day, which left Cryssarina ecstatic. She was going to meet one of her favourite writers on Medium, who was also keen on helping her find Patrick.

In the meantime, Cryssarina stopped at a few shops to buy presents for M and the two other narrators. She made sure that nothing she bought contained any tree meat, hypocritically known as wood. They were all of one mind by now as to all trees’ plight, swearing to never purchase anything made from them, not even paper. She returned to the hotel to rest a bit and freshen up before her meeting with Anthi. Her heart was pounding at one point from anticipation. She was also about to meet a fellow writer, though she had barely written anything compared to M or Patrick or even the other two narrators, let alone Anthi. She googled her name and was pleased to discover that Anthi meant “flowers” in Greek. She must be beautiful, she thought, as she closed her eyes and thought about all her favourite flowers and plants, and all the trees that were never kissed before being killed.

Someone from the lobby called her to announce Anthi’s arrival. Cryssarina felt elated, instructing the caller to ask her if she wanted to come up first. Anthi agreed and Cryssarina felt her cheeks redden. She was ready but felt that something was missing. Only her mind, it seemed, as it suddenly weighed like one of Athena’s statues. She opened the door before Anthi’s potential knock, unable to say a word except for geia sas, hello, in Greek. Anthi quickly sensed her agitation and hugged her. It did the trick for Cryssarina who proceeded to kiss Anthi on both cheeks, taking a bit longer with the second one, which happened to be her right. Anthi was indeed beautiful like a flower, though Cryssarina could not choose which flower suited her best. They chatted for a little while on the balcony where Anthi pointed to her a few of the visible Athenian landmarks.

It was late afternoon, almost evening, that special brief period comparable to the time between two kisses. Anthi instructed a taxi driver to take them to the colossal Athena Statue, a marvellous portrayal of the goddess sitting atop a triangulated column, emulating her statue in the Parthenon back during the Golden Age. Cryssarina could not contain herself when they stood facing her. Created by the Greek sculptor, Vassos Falireas in 1952, it showed Goddess Athena prepared for battle with her shield, spear, and helmet. At the base was a memorial to Commonwealth soldiers who fought in the country during World War Two. Cryssarina’s tears flowed helplessly in front of their goddess. Athena was everyone’s goddess, but most people did not even know her. Anthi knew it very well, as she held Cryssarina to comfort her. They looked around for Patrick, but he was nowhere during the hour that they spent there.

Just before leaving, Cryssarina beseeched their goddess to help them, when almost imperceptibly, they could swear that Athena moved her right foot. They looked at each other, nodding their heads in agreement. Athena was there with them, listening. But could she help them? They kept looking at her, but it seemed that she had left for the night. Cryssarina then told Anthi that she will return tomorrow at first light to spend all day with their goddess. Anthi nodded her head in agreement again and said the following words, looking straight at Athena’s head: S ‘agapó óso tin agapó (I love you as much as I love her). Cryssarina did not understand Anthi’s words but felt extremely loved.

Thinking about life and all its tribulations and happy endings, to be loved is, after all, everything that anyone wishes for. Surely to love as well. But it is never balanced. One always loves the other a bit more, even more than a bit. It is acceptable, I think, and I am sure that Anthi would agree, that to be loved is the greatest feeling there is whether by another human being or a statue of Goddess Athena. We have to love ourselves as well, but that is already a given. May Goddess Athena walk on Earth again and always! Perhaps she does already, invisible or unnoticeable.

They both kissed the bottom of the pillar holding Goddess Athena, though they were sure that it was the goddess holding it. They walked hand in hand towards a taxi Anthi had summoned and did not notice the time that elapsed until they reached the hotel. They would have had a meal together but they both felt satiated. Goddess Athena had already nourished them with her light. Anthi kissed Cryssarina both good night and see you tomorrow at first light.

This is a Greek singer that I used to listen to during my childhood before Canada became my new home.

...

Cryssarina’s First Visit - Part 3: Athena Is the Greatest

This is the third part of a continuing story. The first and second parts need to be read beforehand to better understand this part. As previously mentioned, Anthi Psomiadou has graciously agreed to be included as a fictional character in this unusual visit by Cryssarina to Greece where she hopes to speak to Goddess Athena and find Patrick who may still be alive.

Cryssarina could not even entertain the idea of sleeping during her second night in Greece. She was simply too excited from the two events of the past day and not sleepless at all. She had met Anthi and they both saw Goddess Athena move her right foot. How could she sleep after such happenings? She was sure that Anthi was also having the same feeling of exhilaration. Goddess Athena was there with them. Goddess Athena was on Earth. Cryssarina felt like dancing and breaking plates as she had seen in the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding. She eventually calmed down and fell asleep, looking at the Moon and the stars through the opening she had left between the curtains, dreaming of Goddess Athena and apparently Patrick.

She was awakened by the rays of the Sun before her wake-up call. Only trees truly welcome the Sun after a night of Moon and stars. She was meeting Anthi at 6 a.m. for breakfast in the hotel. Cryssarina did not generally have breakfast given her intermittent fasting and keto diet, only eating her first meal of the day in early to late afternoon. But not having eaten the evening before, a breakfast was being demanded. She was ready in the lobby before 6 a.m., waiting for Anthi who arrived a few minutes later as the clock showed 6:05. Cryssarina was the one who hugged Anthi this time, pointing with her head to the clock. Anthi did not understand at first what Cryssarina was alluding to. Five minutes is not considered being late. But then she remembered that five was Goddess Athena’s number. Did they get a second sign from her?

After breakfast during which they kept looking at each other with excitement in their eyes, they took a taxi to Athena’s statue. It was just after 7 a.m. when they arrived. They forgot to look at the time but I can tell you that it was exactly 7:05. A coincidence? Perhaps. Time will tell. I mean, I will tell. Methinks I just did. There was no one there this early in the morning, not Patrick either when they looked around for him, but not before kissing again the bottom of the pillar on which Goddess Athena stood tall like Mount Olympus. They looked intently at the goddess but could not discern anything unusual. She did not move. Yet now was the best time. There was no one around and she had already moved her right foot in front of them. She could have moved her left. She must be right-footed, they reasoned while keeping their eyes on her statue.

They conversed about their lives as the hours passed. Cryssarina learned many things about beautiful Anthi but promised not to say anything to anyone, not even M. But Anthi did not know M as well as I did. He could be trusted with anything, even a woman’s panties. Cryssarina also talked about herself but seemed not to have much to tell. She was almost like a blank slate. Cryssarina could be a perfect prototype for a female AI. It may be the reason why M finally accepted to be with her. She looked artificial, yet she was human, all too human. Anthi hugged her at one point, as if to make sure that she was made from flesh and bones. But Cryssarina hugged her back and kissed her on both cheeks, again taking longer with the second one, which again was her right. Her heart was beating faster than normal and Anthi felt it but did not say anything. She knew that Cryssarina was worried. Will they ever find Patrick? Is he even alive?

When Goddess Athena had not shown any sign by the beginning of the afternoon, they decided to go not far for some lunch. Cryssarina had decided to forget about her intermittent fasting while in Greece, but her keto diet could be maintained to a certain degree. She loved Greek salads which in Greece were simply salads and she also liked souvlaki of the chicken and fish variety. White meat under blue skies and not far from the blue sea seemed like a peaceful symphony. A Greek tragedy would have involved lamb, a baby that never got the chance to jump and live for a decent while. Like M and Patrick, Cryssarina never ate lamb or veal, considering them babies and thus off her menu. Eating their parents seemed more humane, but it was not, of course. But life was thus made. Humans needed other animal protein to be healthy, but only organic given all that was injected and fed to the poor usual variety of for-food-animals.

They spent the rest of the afternoon near the statue of Goddess Athena, the evening too, and then it happened. I am still thinking about the way in which to tell you this part of the story. Maybe I should just retell it exactly as it unfolded. Cryssarina kissed Athena’s pillar from time to time, displeased that she could not reach her. Goddess Athena was standing high overlooking the entire area and beyond. When almost no one else was nearby, Goddess Athena suddenly stepped down from her pillar and floated to the ground next to Anthi and Cryssarina. Yet when they looked at her statue, she was still there. Anthi and Cryssarina looked at each other but did not say a word. Goddess Athena approached them and said: O Pátrik eínai mazí mou (Patrick is with me). Cryssarina understood what Goddess Athena had said, having heard it in her head. Will he return home with me? Cryssarina then asked. Exartátai apó aftón (It is up to him), Goddess Athena replied. I love you, Cryssarina then said. Ki ego se agapo (I love you too), Anthi added. Xéro, ta paidiá mou (I know, my children). Pigaínete spíti kai epistrépste ávrio taftóchrona (Go home and return tomorrow at the same time). Óla tha apokalyfthoún (All will be revealed). Cryssarina asked Goddess Athena if she could kiss her hand but she disappeared before she finished her sentence.

Like the evening before, their taxi ride back to the hotel seemed to have elapsed like a dream. Again, Cryssarina and Anthi had no appetite for any earthly food. They had just been nourished by a goddess. Even words became uncalled for. It was as if they understood each other’s thoughts. They kissed again good night and see you tomorrow but at the late afternoon this time around. Athena is the greatest. What a goddess! Even I love her. Do you?

...

Please remember that there are 10 more parts to this series, 37 parts in the second series, and 35 parts in the third series at this point in time. The latter series has no planned end as it is written in the form of a journal concerning the love between the two characters who are getting married on September 5th (2021).

Passion and love permeate this story from beginning to unforeseen end. I hope that this brief glimpse (first three parts) can convey the sea of love between fictitious characters and their real counterparts. It is, of course, easier in fiction, but we can hope that some of the fervour can traverse into our realm of trial and error and almost out-of-the-blue existence.

I will end with a poem written by the groom to his meaning of life.

For Anthi Kanéna: An Acrostic Sonnet

For Anthi Kanéna he would traverse

Oceans and seas streaming to her beauty

Reverberating within his perverse

...

Antithetic mind whose disguised duty

Negates everything she aspires to show

Tantalizingly only to her M

Having kissed him in her mind to a glow

Indicating love is stronger than them

...

Killing him softly with her silent word

Answering his mindful kisses with yes

Never deigning her M unfit or blurred

Ensconcing his unsettled artful guess

Now is the time of their fascination

Affording them respite from their station