Two weeks after teaching in Kefalonia, Greece, I taught at the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing, my 13th year! What a joy and a delight to teach alongside awesome faculty and friends Hannah Bae, Donald Quist, Vogue Robinson, and Alexander Weinstein! The week went by too quickly!
Eight days in a magical place, Kefalonia Greece, made all the more magical by the wonderful people who shared it all. I’ll carry those days in my heart. May our paths cross again. 🙏❤️
Day 9 Poetry Teaching Trip to Kefalonia Greece: morning boat excursion to swim in the sea beside the island of Ithaca, lunch in Vathi, then a swim in a magical cave at magical Myrthos Beach with the magical marble pebble beach.
Day 8 Poetry Teaching Trip to Kefalonia Greece: 2 morning cats, visiting the Mycenaean Cemetery of Mazarakata (1390 BCE) for a dramatized duologue from the Persephone Project written by Vicky Yiannoutsos, another visit to the transcendent Avythos Beach!
Day 7 Poetry Teaching Trip to Kefalonia Greece cont: in addition to reading my poetry atop Mt. Aenos, teaching a poetry workshop in a marble amphitheater, beachside lunch at Avithos Preview Taverna, Kefalonia beehives, the mountains, magical writers in a magical place!
Day 7 Poetry Teaching Trip to Kefalonia Greece: I gave a poetry reading atop Mount Aenos!!!
…at 5,300 ft the tallest mountain on the Ionian island of Cephalonia, Greece…on a mossy stone outcrop, surrounded by Greek fir, black pine, wild bellflowers, violets, and poppies…and generous people willing to pay attention to me lipping off for 20 minutes while on top of the world.
Here I am reading my poem “Come In Go Ahead Say Again” recently published online at The Normal School.
https://www.thenormalschool.com/blog/2024/11/21/come-in-go-ahead-say-again-by-christopher-citro
Day 6 Poetry Teaching Trip to Kefalonia Greece: Skyline lunch at il Borgo, visiting the mountaintop Byzantine Castle of Agios Georgios, Argostoli nightlife including a live performance of Astor Piazzolla tangos. Sigh…
Day 5 Poetry Teaching Trip to Kefalonia Greece: After reading my poem at the Zervati Cave, a boat ride through Melisani Cave, a swim at Antisamos beach, sea bass for lunch in Sami, crawling around Ayioi Fanetes Monastery / the Acropolis of Kyatis, first views of Myrtos Beach, and basically a lot of adoring the Kefalonian mountainous countryside.
Day 5 of my Poetry Teaching Trip to Kefalonia Greece: I read my poetry in a Greek cave! I read my poetry in a Greek cave! I read my poetry in a Greek cave!
The poem: “Hawk Shadow Here to Help,” temporarily retitled “κότσυφας Shadow Here to Help” in honor of the blackbirds singing around us.
The cave: Zervati Cave on Kefalonia Island.
Day 4 poetry teaching trip to Kefalonia Island Greece: walking the mountain town of Kastro, exploring the Medieval Church of Evangelistria (1508), an impromptu visit inside a mountainside villa with the angriest cat in Kefalonia, a gift of preserved bergamot oranges, trees full of bougainvillea dates almonds oranges, and Sophia’s awesome dinnertime story of the time she slapped a crooked priest.
