In the early 21st century, for the first time in its modern history, Greek poetry lost its faith in the Revolution.

Not just individual poets but the collective poetic project abandoned political messianism. The “generation of the crisis” (poets born around 1980), the generation maturing in the 2000s, did not express any positive literary interest in the gradual rise of the Left to power. When the victory appeared imminent, even those poets who voted for Syriza did not record in their work any anticipation for the historic development. As they had announced already in 2011, their leftist commitments had been radically refocused on a “new political consciousness.’

In the current British election campaign, 21 poets who support a particular candidate for Labour Leader have contributed to an ebook with the self-explanatory title 21 Poems, 21 Reasons for Choosing Jeremy Corbyn.  Can anybody imagine a similar poetry collection offering reasons…