CHRISTOS DIKBASANIS - INTERVIEW

 

NILAVRONILL TALKING WITH

POET OF THE MONTH

CHRISTOS DIKBASANIS

JULY 2024

NILAVRONILL: Welcome to Our Poetry Archive, dear poet. And congratulations as the poet of this month. I would like to know your personal views on literature or poetry in general.

CHRISTOS DIKBASANIS: Good to see you! It is a huge honor for me to be chosen as Poet of the Month by a very respectable global magazine with more than 1,000,000 readers. Poetry and literature in general are for me sources of creation and life. They develop my spiritual world and expand the horizons of my spirit and thought. They are the tools my imagination uses to create wonderful worlds and convey messages and meanings across time and the world. Especially poetry is for me an inner world beast that scratches the walls of my soul with its claws, seeking to come out into the light of the sun and of life.

 

NILAVRONILL: What are the factors that have influenced you immensely in the growing phase of your literary life. When, most probably you were not certain of your future as a poet or writer. Do you think society as a whole is the key factor in shaping up you as a poet, or your poetry altogether?

 

CHRISTOS DIKBASANIS: In my poetry inspired by man, the world, nature, their future course and evolution, the mysteries of the Earth and the Universe. Certainly, there are very strongly my personal details in it. It is a fact that from the beginning of my writing career I write in the first person, seeking to demonstrate to my readers that the one who "opens up" to them is the same as the one who expresses his feelings, his ideas, his fears, his courage, his dreams, his imagination. My collections of poems are based on the literary genre of the Herbartian space opera. In these I focus on life, love, man, romance, infighting and field adventures and conflicts, but from a chaotic, space or cosmic perspective, which no one can either underestimate or marginalize.

      

That is why, as long as literature exists, it will exist. Also, other themes are of space travel, the joy of space exploration, its colonization and the need for the fantastic and for the new myths that are now just beginning to take shape. Because, in any case, it is the path of the fantastic that leads us to what stands as a burning desire of all of us: contact, even for a while, with the impossible.  I was always sure that I wanted to be a poet and a writer. From the time I was nine when I wrote my first poem, I never questioned it for a moment. So, I got the courage to overcome whatever obstacles were in my way and jump over them, continuing to do what I loved most in life. To write and create. Certainly, society and especially man and his future as a universal being is the most important factor that has shaped my work and me in terms of my thoughts and choices.

        

Also, the content of my poetry collection of poems are inspired by my great love and enormous interest in the Universe, its creation, the reasonable possibility that other civilizations exist in its depths, apart from the known Earth, the possible origin of life to planet Earth from space, the possibility of interstellar travel by humans, but also the terror, the hope, the contact relationships that humans can have with extraterrestrial life forms, wherever and whenever they may be. So I refer to space, since the current reality now contains so much fear, bitterness, frustration and cruelty. Again, however, this intense interest of mine in the Universe has as its central point my enormous interest in man. The man, hurt by so many negative situations in his daily life, gazes at the stars, looking for a different perspective on his life. The modern existential significance is that man will transcend the frontiers of our galaxy, transcend the final frontier soon, perhaps find new worlds and civilizations on the over 5,500 exoplanets he has made so far, each of which has the conditions for the development of life. The correct handling of all these issues, without losing his humanity, depends on him and on his attitude and behavior. When man goes out into the Universe to colonize other worlds, he will have to carry with him some soil from his metropolitan planet. He should carry with him the memory of the planet, his great universal mother.

 

NILAVRONILL: Is there anyone in your life, influenced you personally to develop your literary skills? Or inspire you to become a poet?

 

CHRISTOS DIKBASANIS: If your question refers to my relatives, then my answer is my parents. My father used to buy and give me books on Greek and foreign mythology. And my mother read to me every night, before I even learned to read and write, various novels that were comprehensible to my childish mind and at the same time opened the horizons of my imagination. Of course, my parents did this without seeking to see me become a poet or a writer. But there were other people who influenced me to turn to writing. Unattainable for now, because it is important at this point to remember that many science fiction books have been verified and become harbingers, essentially, of the future, as happened with the books of EF's father, Jules Verne.

         

A great scientist and writer E.F. who influenced me and at the same time inspired me to a great extent, among many others, is Isaac Asimov. According to this author "modern science fiction is the only literary genre in which the nature of the coming changes, their possible effects and solutions are systematically and consciously addressed. E.F. is that literary genre, which deals with the effect of scientific progress on man".

         

Also, the great scientist Albert Einstein who said: "How would I feel if I traveled through space riding on a beam of light?" In addition to the theory of relativity, the poetry and imaginative dynamics of this image that the insurmountable scientist gives us, the value of existence in combination with the Universe is also hidden in it.

NILAVRONILL: Do you consider your literary life as an extension of your self-existence? If so, how it is related with the time around you?

 

CHRISTOS DIKBASANIS: My literary life motivates, defines and promotes my very existence. Without her I believe I would not be a complete person. I would always be missing something very important and irreplaceable. But now that I serve poetry and literature as well as other types of writing, such as short stories and essays, I feel complete and self-existent. I move, I function, I exist within the dimensions of the writing that colors the time itself that flows but acquires value from my creativity and that is why it does not go to waste.

 

NILAVRONILL: According to you, what are the conditions to develop the creative soul of a poet in general?  We would like to know from your personal experiences.

 

CHRISTOS DIKBASANIS: The prerequisites for the development of the creative soul of a writer and especially a poet is the ability he has to delve into his very existence, his being, his ego, but also to have the ability of empathy, love for fellow human beings, of understanding, reflection, freedom of thought and expression, interest in the great problems plaguing the world, the future of man here on Earth and beyond in the stars. Related to my own experiences regarding the above assumptions was the need to write a poetry collection about the Greek Revolution of 1821 thinking about the freedom of man and how many sacrifices are needed to obtain it. Or to write poems about the conquest and colonization of space thinking about the future of man. In fact, my most recent poetry collection written in the English language, which is published in India, Canada, USA. and Europe with the title JOURNEY TO INFINITY is such a poetry collection.

 

NILAVRONILL: Do you think in this age of information and technology the dimensions of literature have been largely extended beyond our preconceived ideas about literature in general?

 

CHRISTOS DIKBASANIS: Certainly, the rapid development of information and technology has broken the barriers of prejudices, qualms and distortions and has reduced poetry and literature to the heavenly valley of liberation from various taboos and censored expressiveness. But there are also risks from this development. Today a robot can write a poem or a piece of literature that is capable of seducing a novice reader with non-human messages. But it cannot mislead a trained scholar, precisely because it lacks humanity. So, it is time to start reading more and to understand deeply what we read.

 

NILAVRONILL: As a poet, do socio-economy and politics in general influence your literary visions? If so how, and if not, why?

 

CHRISTOS DIKBASANIS: Socio-economics and more generally politics in their broadest sense definitely influence my literary vision. Interstate conflicts, the poverty of many people worldwide, the lack of social welfare, the serving of individual interests, the lack of true education that will lead to creativity and not just unrestrained productivity cannot leave me indifferent.

 

NILAVRONILL: Do you consider, your national identity as an important factor to influence your literary creativity? Is your national identity an incentive for you to find your own literary voice?

 

CHRISTOS DIKBASANIS: Certainly, my ethnic identity is a factor that affects my creativity but not to a catalytic degree. And this, because I consider myself a world poet. Global, because I am troubled and concerned by the great problems of the whole world, the wars, the hunger, the drug trafficking, the exploitation of man by man, the mutations of the human genome that will lead to metahumans, the colonization of space and its possible dangers. So, I try to collaborate with all the forces I have in Greek magazines, anthologies, competitions and also in foreign ones, in order to make my voice heard by as many people as possible.

 

NILAVRONILL: In between tradition and modernism, which one influence you most and why?

 

CHRISTOS DIKBASANIS: I’m undoubtedly influenced by modernism, or rather postmodernism, because I firmly believe that man must move forward and evolve. Of course, this does not mean at all that I despise tradition. In fact, I believe that the man who does not know or who despises his roots is a withered trunk of some cut tree.

 

NILAVRONILL: Do you think honest literary criticism has much to do with the development of a poet and the true understanding of his or her poetry?

 

CHRISTOS DIKBASANIS: When criticism is well-intentioned and honest, it helps the development of a writer, a poet, because it points out some of his imperfections in a positive way. When it is not, then it rather obscures and subverts its course towards the elusive but so desired perfection.

 

NILAVRONILL: I would like to know, whether your contemporaries inspire your writings in any way.

 

CHRISTOS DIKBASANIS: They inspire my writing but unfortunately not in the most positive way. As I mentioned before, there are many problems in the world, which of course are of human origin. Today people depend more on matter than spirit.

 

NILAVRONILL: Do you believe, literature can eventually help people to uplift human conscience?

 

CHRISTOS DIKBASANIS: Certainly, literature always has this potential. But the issue is to what extent modern man deals with poetry and literature and to what extent he is interested in the elevation of his consciousness. There are of course bright exceptions but these are few and only highlight the rule.

 

NILAVRONILL: Humanity has suffered immensely in the past, and is still suffering around the world. We all know it well. As a poet or even as a literary person, how do you foresee the future of mankind?

 

CHRISTOS DIKBASANIS: I don't want to sound pessimistic, but I have a bleak outlook. Modern man is material and full of flaws. If love, understanding, tolerance do not prevail, then things will not be auspicious at all. In fact, I believe that man will carry these defects into space, if he eventually colonizes it. For this reason, I will quote a quote of mine:

 

Believe in life, in love, in man,

to yourself, to research of Universe!!!

And something else.

Hold his eyes of your spirit

and soul always open,

you seek the Truth

and distance yourself

from irresponsibility,

the racist tendencies,

the totalitarianism and the fear,

whatever its source!!!

 

NILAVRONILL: We are almost at the end of the interview. I remain obliged to you for your participation. Now, personally I would like to know your honest opinion about Our Poetry Archive. Since April 2015 we are publishing and archiving contemporary world poetry each and every month. Thank you for sharing your views and spending much time with us.

 

CHRISTOS DIKBASANIS: OPA is a wonderful, extraordinary global e-literary magazine that embraces contemporary authors and their great work with unbridled love. Besides, my appreciation for it and its editors is clearly visible from the fact that I seek to post my poems in almost every issue of it. Of course, without the love and interest of the people who publish it towards my poetry, this would not be possible at all. It would be impossible to happen. Thank you very much!

 

CHRISTOS DIKBASANIS: Christos Dikbasanis is a poet, writer, columnist and scholar of religions. He was born in Thessaloniki in 1961, Greece, where he graduated from the Theological School of AUTH. He holds a Master's degree (MTh) in Religion. He writes poetry, essays, studies, short stories. His poems and essays have been included in Greek and international anthologies and presented in literary publications and electronic magazines in Greece and abroad, while his poems have been dramatized by theater troupes. His poems have been translated into English, Spanish and Italian. He is a member of the Thessaloniki Writers Society, the International Society of Greek Writers and the Greece-Cyprus Cultural Association. His life and work are always inspired by his great love for man, the Universe, space travel, nature, anthropology, mythology and especially the research of the history of religions and other branches of theology. He has been honored with important pan-Hellenic and global awards, such as from the INTERNATIONAL FORUM OF CREATIVITY AND HUMANISM and the international literary electronic magazine of Argentina INVIERNO REVISTA OFFICIAL etc. He has been awarded the SPECIAL JURY AWARD (Special Jury Award) at the BIENNALE 2024 global competition. Also, he was honored with the First Prize at the 11th International Literary Competition 2022 of the UNESCO group of arts, language and sciences of Greece. Also, he has been included along with 1,700 international poets in the global HYPERPOEM project, organized by the Russian publisher, writer and poet Alexander Kabishev and included in the QUINESS Book of Records. Also, he has been distinguished as the FACE OF CONTINENT (Representative of the Continent-Antarctica) for the year 2023 by the global electronic magazine HUMANITY MAGAZINE, the special edition ANTARCTICA and the publisher Alexander Kabishev. Finally, a poetry collection of his poems in the English language was published by WRITERS INTERNATIONAL EDITION and is distributed in the USA, Canada, India and Europe.