Long Listed for the 2023 Griffin Poetry Awards
The Hat
People who spent their lives serenely, rhythmically
between their working hours and the silent marital
dead suppers
some coffee at the end of supper to help digest
the food, a few dreams to abate a heart attack
some charity gestures to save the soul
until one evening, mid-supper, they suddenly get up
and as it was their habit, they took their hats
and disappeared; to where?
No one knew; yet the thirst burned them
and the resignation widened the horizon.
I mean, they momentarily thought of doing this.
Then it passed. They wiped a bit of sweat next
to the nose and walked to the bedroom. While,
in the hallway, the hat, alone was left on the chair
like a small embankment of a grave
that covered their lives heavily
and irreparably.
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Manolis Aligizakis 