LONG LISTED FOR THE 2023 GRIFFIN POETRY AWARDS
Conniving
We knew so little of him but let us call him Jacob
for serenity’s sake and at this point let us remember
the great quackery of words or the house appliances
that mysteriously disappear since whoever used them
had the most naïve thoughts;
like a page has its end and each castaway his lucky
person, each boy has his apple and each crazy man
his basement, every sad person his wall and each
dead his rumble
but let us stop the count of so many sad events and
let us delve in how the bees establish their colonies
or how revolutions die or why we don’t open our door
to the quiet evening so that we don’t go to exile
for such minor things
and we lived deviously like the ancient folk singers
who let their beard grow down to the earth so they
didn’t resemble children
when they sang.
Manolis 