I asked him once:
“How does it feel to be called a loghotékhnis?”
[Greek akin to “wordsmith” or “litterateur.”]
His answer:
“These two words
lóghos and tékhni
[‘the word’ and ‘art’]
stuck together leave me uneasy.
I prefer the lightness of the word
kímeno [‘text’]…
“There aren’t any nice [Greek] words
to describe those who write.
Senariográfos [‘screenwriter’] isn’t nice.
Syngraféas [‘author’] isn’t nice either.
“Isn’t it tragic? To write,
but for the words
that describe what you do
to be horrible?
“Whereas khoreftís, for example,
now that’s a lovely word
to describe those who dance
– simple, with a nice ring to it,
it’s a word that only makes them
want to dance more.”
