The poetic book of Pantelis Kakolis "The heart listens to the mind", was presented on Tuesday, October 31, at the House of Cyprus, in Athens, with the poet receiving the honorary title of Honorary Academic Professor of the International Academy of Social Sciences, based in Palm Beach, Florida, USA.
According to a relevant announcement, the Professor of History, Academician and one of the editors of the publication, Dr. Tonis Breidel Hadjidimitriou, who presented the honorary title, said that "the poetry collection is characterized by deep feelings of spiritual clarity and a voice of an experienced and mature sage. calls for the protection of the human condition ".
Emeritus Professor of Ancient Greek Philology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Andreas Voskos said that the subject matter of the poems testifies to vast experiences and knowledge, true patriotism and balanced political discourse.
For his part, the Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus Kyriakos Kenevezos praised the cultural and cultural contribution of Pantelis Kakolis and stressed that his diverse work "reflects the Cypriot Hellenism not only in our small country but also abroad, where it shows and proves which our roots ".
"We who deal with the written word must leave works that testify to spiritual maturity and lyrical power, that help the scholar to photograph with his imagination the social structure of our time" said Pantelis Kokolis in his rebuttal and read poems from his book.
Pantelis Kakolis
He was born in Liopetri, on December 12, 1933.
His father was Nikolas (known as Kakolis) of Georgios and Panagiota Hatziipapanikola and his mother was Lucia of Christofi and Paraskevi Kkolou. He has three more brothers: Georgion, Eleftherios, Christofis and a sister, Eleni. His parents were engaged in agriculture.
He completed the primary school of his village and then entered the "Commercial High School Siakalli" in Varosi for only one year. He stopped to take care of his parents' agricultural work. As a teenager, he loved books and indulged in self-education, with a particular love for poetry and literature.
He married the fellow villager of Paraskevi of Georgios and Apostolos Katsiaris, on 18/6/1955.
They had four children: two daughters, Lucia and Eva (who died in infancy) and two sons, Georgios and Nikolas (who listens to his grandfather's surname "Kakolis"). His restless youthful spirit pushed him to seek his fortune abroad, which in those years seemed easy and lucrative. On February 5, 1956, he made the decision and fulfilled that youthful desire to see other places. So he found himself in the English seaside town of Blackpool, which had a rich tourist flow.
After about 13 months, with the help of his employers, his wife and their young daughter went to him. In Blackpool he worked in a restaurant kitchen and acquired some knowledge of both work and English, which he considered necessary in order to be able to give a decent life to his family. In 1957 the family moved to the industrial city of Manchester. Liopetri and his local tradition were always in his heart and nothing he heard or saw was enough to make him love it to such an extent that he forgets his childhood memories and longings. life of Liopetri.
As time went on, nostalgia revived the memories. This strange, but persistent and beautiful feeling, inspired him and one day, when the heart met the mind, they pushed him to the following expressive laconic couplet:
"As if they are shining in the sky, weapons are poletrin
this is how I shield Liopetrin on earth "
We also quote it in English translation, which he did:
«Like Ursa and plow constellations glare in the sky
that's how I see on earth Liopetri to shine »
With this kind of laconic poetic expression he grew up among the fearless giants of popular poetry, who during his childhood at the hearing of the names Ttapakkos, Xiaxiouris, Kolokasis, Kouvaros and Ttakkas, bowed not only the Liopetrites, but all the Lokites. It was natural to carry to the foreign land this spark of poetic expression. He was even more influenced by the fact that both his mother and father often expressed themselves in poetic verses. So he did not hesitate every time he felt a mental upheaval, to express himself poetically with the traditional fifteen-syllable verse.
He did not save his first poems, because he did not know their value. He wrote them to satirize his compatriots who worked with him in the various restaurant kitchens.
In 1967 he was lucky enough to meet a circle of people who encouraged him to write more carefully, to choose topics of common interest and to keep what he wrote for evaluation.
Thus, in 1967, the then correspondent of the prestigious Cypriot newspaper "Eleftheria" Mr. Haris Mettis, published a review of his poetry and since then followed acquaintances with people of letters, such as the late Frixos Petridis, Cyprus Chrysanthi and others. The London neighborhood newspaper "To Vima" hosted various of his poems and in a poetry competition awarded him the first prize. He then wrote for over ten years in the London weekly "Parikiaki" an established satire, which always consisted of three paired couplets. His poems were published in the literary magazines of Cyprus "Review of Speech and Art" and "Spiritual Cyprus". During his various short visits to Cyprus, he was introduced by the Radio and Television media of RIK and Logos. Abroad, in Manchester, he developed a very rich action to inform English MPs and others about our positions in the Cyprus issue. He was the first speaker for parochial education and the main executive for the establishment and operation of the parochial school of the Greek Brotherhood Manchester, of which he was, in addition to President for several years, an active member of the board. In 1983 he was honored by the Holy Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain with the golden cross for his actions and actions for the benefit of the Greek Diaspora. He studied various literary books and texts by Greek and foreign authors, with a special interest in Cypriot folk poetry. He collaborated with Dr. Konstantinos Giagoullis, who in those years was engaged in the study and recording of works by folk poets. Among them, he chose him and in 1978 they proceeded to the publication of his first collection of poetry in 47 pages entitled: "The leaves of my flesh". This was followed by a second collection of poems in 92 pages, entitled "Alpha jia to beta". In 1983 he published the third collection of poetry in a row with only two satirical narrative poems in twenty-two pages, entitled "Words are fleeing". In the poems, the artist's friend George Nikolaidis sketched very expressive images.
That year the BBC World Service presented his interviews and various poems. The water entered the ditch and the national television channel Channel Four presented a forty minute tribute to his life and work, which aired on their national network on 13.7.1983 and left excellent impressions. In 1984 he published his fourth collection of poetry in English translation, to help the children of the second and third generation of immigrants who did not understand the Greek language, in 70 pages, entitled "Part of my cosmos".
He published his fifth collection of poetry in 1995 again in English translation in 240 pages, entitled "Between two cultures". 1996 was the year that made the big decision for repatriation. When he settled in the village, he developed a rich activity in cultural events. He identified the various organizational weaknesses of the organized ensembles, which undertook the few cultural and national festivities, and offered to help upgrade them. His offer was accepted and all together made a significant progress, which the various official visitors and ordinary people expressed respect and admiration. The then Improvement Council (now the Community Council) offered him the honorary position of cultural advisor, which he accepted and since then offers voluntarily and non-profit to his community. In 1999 he collected, evaluated and recorded all the scattered poems and songs that circulated among the inhabitants, both of Liopetri and the surrounding communities, which were recited from time to time by the various Liopetri folk poets. The accumulated poetic work was brought to the attention of the Community Council, with the request to be published in a book with their own sponsorship. This was done and released under the title "Xomblia tou nou jia tis karkias", in 208 pages. In 2001 he published a new, the sixth in a row individual poetry collection, entitled "The foundations to be gleamed" in 70 pages. In 2003, after four years of complex and arduous research, he presented, in a book of 657 pages, entitled "TO LIOPETRI", the history of Liopetri and his family tree from 1825-2002, sponsored by the Community Council and the cultural services of the Ministry of Education and Culture. This is a historical research, which he believes will be useful and relevant for the life of his village and can be the basis for future research and studies. During all this time he found the opportunity and wrote no poor poems, which he collected and delivers to the present poetry collection, entitled "With genuine leaven".
Famagusta.News