LONG LISTED FOR THE 2023 GRIFFIN POETRY AWARDS
https://griffinpoetryprize.com/press/2023-longlist-announcement/
The Great Sin
I could have definitely accomplished great things in my life
but I was born so busy, I mean to say (what can I say and who
would understand?) Those days I lived in a shabby hotel near
the train station; trains departed fast like the seasons; during
the night we could hear a gunshot as if from the past and
nostalgia killed me while the pale maid, wrapped in the dark
secret of her wasted life, made the bed and I remembered mother
who always told me there was only one great sin, “my son”
she’d say and I understood because there are just a few words
in the world like the most beautiful stories about us that one may
narrate when no one is around anymore to listen to them.
Manolis Aligizakis 