“Βravery was for the poet ANTHOS POGONITIS a personal attitude.” With these words begins the essay by Nikos A. Tentas ,for the poet of Pogoni Anthos Pogonitis (real name Vassilis Karafillis). Several pieces i will borrow from N. Tentas book, since he describes with a lively and vivid way, as a third eye, both the poet and Pogoni, from which the poet borrowed his name .Born in Agios Kosmas of Pogoni
Prefecture in 1910, Vassilis Karafillis always had in mind the bravery songs of Epirus and the Pogonisian beauty. “Built (his village of Agios Kosmas) into a vibrant and beautiful nature, full of spectacular flowers. Beside Gormos river forms an interesting ravine, drowned by the trees .. “.
Between Vissani and Vassiliko village ,St. Kosmas village is the painter that formes the original images in his mind from which Vassilis Karafillis is inspired and draws many times again and again in his poems.
The poet is influenced by the Pogonisian Polyphonic singing, teamwork and collegiality as well as the manliness dance of Epirus and the pain of exile that plagues the country. Foreign places he himself experiences since he leaves his beloved village very young, and moves to Thessaloniki where he finds a job as bread maker. Leaving sore but “every man has a root in the past”
Influence is clear from the preaching of St. Cosmas’ : “people will stay poor because they will stop loving nature”, while often brags:” The best Greek language is spoken in Pogoni : “there every word has its own music to the dance of the Lilacs (Easter). In Thessaloniki Anthos Pogonitis, having in mind the woman of Epirus, becomes a proponent of feminism and of the fight for human rights while he starts writing for several newspapers: “Macedonia”, “Mainland Hearth”, “Macedonian Letters’.
The War of 1940 as well as the subsequent Civil war in Greece hurt deeply the poet, who loves passionately his country and with the same passion he writes in his poem “THE STORM OF SLAVERY”:
Later the great events of the time follow one another (the dictatorship in Greece, the Turkish invasion in Cyprus) and Anthos Pogonitis “always next to the anonymous, ordinary man and with the “memory of St. Cosmas, the village where the language Greek sing with divine harmony” writes:
Basil Karafillis smitten by the tuberculosis dies at Penteli sanatorium in 1977. As Nikos A. Tenta writes: “the life and work of Anthos Pogonitis is concentrated in the words of Albert Camus: “I know the people practically and i have practical knowledge of their behavior , by their actions and the consequences in my life from their passage through it.”
Poetry Collections: The Damned Seraphim 1937, The Skeletons Of Dreams 1939 Waiting for The Sun 1947, Cases1959, Mirror Lines In 1964, Sight angles 1972, Bitter Synthesis 1977
