I hadn't realised that this was a collection of LGBTQ poems. They tackled many themes such as sensuality, moral attitudes, fear over being found out and more. I quite enjoyed them, but some of them seemed a little disjointed to me, but that could be an effect of the translation. ( )

I hadn't realised that this was a collection of LGBTQ poems. They tackled many themes such as sensuality, moral attitudes, fear over being found out and more. I quite enjoyed them, but some of them seemed a little disjointed to me, but that could be an effect of the translation. ( )

The poems in this selection are simple, heartfelt, very short and surprisingly erotic. I know little of Cavafy's life and work, save his poem Ithaka, which was cited by Daniel Mendelsohn in his Odyssey, and Hockney's etchings which illustrate fourteen of his poems. I was surprised at the frankness of the desire expressed in these verses, though I shouldn't have been. It's precisely that which has made Cavafy so celebrated today: his luminous conjuring of smooth-limbed, beautiful boys and his memories of 'voluptuous illusions'. The poems have an overarching air of melancholy, of looking back. The poet seems to be on the brink of old age, warming the chill of his declining years by wandering past houses he once knew and remembering the sweetness of his early loves.

There are some non-homoerotic images too: I was profoundly moved by the poem Candles, which envisages 'The days of the future... like a line of burning candles - golden candles, warm with life' and contrasts those with 'the days of our past, a pitiful row of candles extinguished, the nearest still sending up their smoke'. The poet looks ahead, fixing his eyes on the burning candles, ignoring the lengthening line of guttered lights behind him. Yet the bulk of the poems celebrate male beauty, along with the cautious thrill of daring to make such desires known. For Cavafy, the passionate tumult of his youth was the arena in which his art was formed, and he draws on those lost days as if on nectar, savouring those loved and lost. As a taster of his work, this has done its job: I'd like to read more. His blend of simplicity and sensuality is very appealing. ( )

Poetry by a gay man living later 1800's to mid 1900's offers a different look at love and the struggle to be himself. Will make you think about how homosexuals have been treated in the past. Especially interesting considering how acceptable homosexuality was in ancient Roman and Greek times. ( )

Full review to come! ( )