LONG LISTED FOR THE 2023 GRIFFIN POETRY AWARDS
https://griffinpoetryprize.com/press/2023-longlist-announcement/
HORSE EYED WOMENAnd the three middle aged maids
those who make the erotic beds
who have never been loved
those with
the big teary horse eyes
forgotten in the snow
gathered in the maids room
like an ancient tragic chorus
in front of the propylaea
of a dirty sink
talk with such forbearance
that even the simplest words
from their bitter mouths
suddenly take the deep gleam
of the myths.
And they talk of their earnings
about the rain, dreams, regrets
and about all the different ways
one can cook potatoes
about the murders reported
in the newspapers, about emptying
the sewage tank and erasing death
and about the Resurrection
and all other eternal things. And
they talk and talk wishing to
exist in their words, while the deep
wrinkles in their faces resemble
furrows that time flows through
falling noiselessly
in eternity.
Those women with the tough, dirty
hands purified by the eternal offering.
Manolis 