Tag: Cavafy | Mediterranean Poetry

Peter Jeffreys is a Professor of English at Suffolk University, Boston, MA. He has written and edited a number of books on the Modern Greek poet C.P. Cavafy: Eastern Questions: Hellenism and Orientalism in the Writings of E. M. Forster and C. P. Cavafy (2005); The Forster-Cavafy Letters: Friends at a Slight Angle (2009); C.P. Cavafy: Selected Prose Works (2010); Reframing Decadence: C.P. Cavafy’s Imaginary Portraits (2015); Approaches to Teaching the Works of C.P. Cavafy (2025). Most recently he has coauthored (with Gregory Jusdanis) a biography Alexandrian Sphinx: The Life of C.P. Cavafy (2026). He has served as a member of the International Cavafy Archive Academic Committee at the Onassis Foundation in Athens and as a consultant for the exhibits at the Cavafy House in Alexandria, Egypt, and the Cavafy Archive Space in Athens, Greece.

Cavafy Photo: Stelios Tzetzias
Before the Statue of Cavafy

They have come to Athens the world over
with smart phones to take their selfies
sitting next to you
in all your bronze glory.
They have traveled far and wide
to offer personal tributes
leaving flowers and poems in honor of Cavafy.
And here is the statue. They now gaze in wonder
at Cavafy’s curious likeness.
On social media they upload bunches of photos
and glowing tributes revive the pleasure of
reading your poems in modern days.