LONG LISTED FOR THE 2023 GRIFFIN POETRY AWARDS
Walks
And I often went looking for my fate yet I only
found the same old beer parlors or the same birds
that flew from tree to tree so they wouldn’t remember;
old men gathered the used matches to perhaps complete
forgetfulness and the poor people in the public baths
were like a multifold folk misfortune, therefore
I preferred to say goodnight to my aunt although
she was dead (perhaps because of it) or I built a labyrinth
made of gestures begging for help or I would limp like
a gramophone album that still turned in my childhood
years, since in fact many complained for strange noises
although I didn’t care or more so I jumped up from
my disturbed sleep like a new unexpected day or like
poetry which was an enigma of common words.
Manolis 