Long Listed for the 2023 Griffin Poetry Awards

2023 Longlist Announcement

Adulthood

Insignificant things that just as fast as we notice them

we forget them:

the fragrance of a wet garden, the glance of a passerby,

the cracking voice of a woman behind a window.

We forget all of them; however we’ll remember them

someday and shall feel that we left, there in the middle

of the street, our good luck or a beloved dead person.

But what can I do now? At least let me admit

how old I am.

https://www.lulu.com/account/projects/ke4yv6 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763564

Painting by Simone Wilhelms

Warmth

Memory freezes between my fingers,

my eyes unwinking stare,

while the birds migrate to warmer places

in despair.

The victory of winds it is,

not of the heart,

that my cheeks will not blush

from the warmth of memory.

My words follow the birds:

They rest where poetry is.

ΖΕΣΤΑΣΙΑ

Παγώνει η μνήμη ανάμεσα στα δάχτυλα

αθέλητα τα μάτια μου κοιτούν

απελπισμένα πουλιά που μεταναστεύουν

στα θερμά κλίματα.

Νίκη του ανέμου

κι όχι της καρδιάς

τα μάγουλα μου που δεν κοκκινίζουν

απ’ τη θαλπωρή της μνήμης.

Τα πουλιά ακολουθούν οι λέξεις μου

Όλα τα υπόλοιπα την ποίηση.

Μετάφραση Μανώλη Αλυγιζάκη//translated by Manolis Aligizakis

Armenuhi Sisyan, Armenia

Translation Armenuhi Sisyan – Stanley Barkan