Doubt

And in secrecy I celebrated my nuptials

as per tradition, a rooster always called

the dawn and I, the anointed,

was meant to mound the Kore

before the branches of trees

connected to form the cross

symbol of my catharsis eternal

toughened and invincible who I had become

years that I had spent in my mind’s purgatory

was it in my previous lifetime or in my dream?

And truly, I was meant for the sacrifice

and I searched for purity to the point

of relentlessness and I longed for

the beautiful to the point of regression

traumas of my youth turned out

to be a lifetime effort to my apotheosis

resulting in my wisdom

like the esoteric anchorite’s

https://www.lulu.com/account/projects/y26q9n?page=1&pageSize=10

Χρυσόθεμις//Chrysothemis

Μέσα σε μια μεγάλη κάμαρα ακατοίκητη, κρεμόταν από χρόνια,
ένας παλιός καθρέφτης με χρυσή κορνίζα. Στην κάμαρα εκείνη
δεν έμπαινε κανείς. Πετούσαν ανάκατα εκεί μέσα
ό,τι άχρηστο και παλιωμένο — λάμπες, πολυθρόνες, κηροπήγια, τραπεζάκια,
πορτρέτα πατρογονικά κι άλλα καθαιρεμένων στρατηγών, ποιητών, φιλοσόφων,
ανθοδοχεία κρυστάλλινα με παράξενα σχήματα, τρίποδες, μπρούντζινα μαγκάλια,
μεγάλες προσωπίδες, γύψινες, μετάλλινες, κι άλλες μικρές από μαύρο βελούδο,
ταριχευμένα κεφάλια ελαφιών κι άγριων ζώων, ταριχευμένα
πολύχρωμα πουλιά, γαλάζια και χρυσά, με γαμψά ράμφη —τ’ όνομά τους δεν το ’ξερα—
κρεμάστρες, πανοπλίες, κονσόλες και βαριά παραπετάσματα
σε πορφυρό συνήθως ή βαθυπράσινο χρώμα. Ήταν εκεί το καταφύγιό μου.

The old mirror with the gold frame hanged, for years, in

a big unoccupied room into which no one ever went. They

used to throw everything useless and old in there: lamps,

armchairs, candlesticks, small tables, family portraits,

and other portraits of retired generals, poets, philosophers,

crystal vases with strange shapes, tripods, bronze heaters,

big clay, or metal masks, and other small masks made

of black velvet, stuffed deer heads and other wild animals,

colorful birds, light-blue, golden with talons and beaks,

I don’t remember their names, hangers, armories, consoles

and heavy partitions in purple or dark green color. There

was my refuge.

https://www.lulu.com/account/projects/q9mkmy?page=1&pageSize=10

Roaming

As if blind we roamed the land for endless days and long nights

we seek a sign for our meaningful penitence. We commenced

the new Exodus under the loneliness of the lit sky, absent

ancient lights, for years we followed blind men or the half

blind, those others who thought they knew it all. The blistering

heat ravaged our limbs and pasted upon our cracked lips its

fatigued emotional touch as our leader’s staff bent with sadness

upon seeing our desperation. We opened a new page, battle

of man against animal-man, women against goddesses,

virginity sacrificed in the first night of lust, we wrote short

pages and meaningful stigmata in our history, exclamation

points at the sight of the bird’s flight, full stop at the watering

hole where our bodies shed their salt and our cracked lips

regained their elasticity.

And this was our second month of pregnancy and this litany

was our second miracle.

https://www.lulu.com/account/projects/7pnp6z?page=1&pageSize=10