Month: September 2025

The Incidentals

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Palliative Care
She’s stationed in the palliative care
looking after the ready to pass
patients, old fogeys, loners from
nursing homes, citizens abandoned
by the state, by family, nonexistent
friends, people discarded by all,
she takes care of them, Suzan, truly
the forever nurse, endlessly in the same
position, ready to undress, re-dress,
prepare the corpse before it stiffs,
pull the partition curtain around
isolate death within the 48 square
feet of hospital space and place
the traditional purple butterfly
on the outside of the curtain, Suzan
familiar with the nondebatable
horrific truth of knowing the past
present and future of these people,
of what is about to happen, the same
as what occurred in the past which
will occur in the future, Suzan
the nurse in the palliative care
of the hospital ward, has seen their
smooth, transparent, pale skin
she has heard the rasping breath
of agony soon to be followed by
the serene breath of the last seconds
she has touched dried-up lips and
felt the slow heartbeats of a dying
person, the last relieving excrement
Suzan knows her job well and has taken
care of hundreds of them as they end
their presence on this earth
Suzan knows all the details before
the proper entries are posted on
the logs, her final diagnosis, end
of a person’s lifespan in the hands
of Suzan the palliative care nurse who
has seen them all time and again.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763637

Water in the Wilderness

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excerpt

A light snow had been falling for two hours when Tyne got off duty at 3 o’clock. She hurried to her car in the hospital parking lot, threw her handbag on the passenger seat and climbed in. In the trunk were the gifts for the Conrad children, as well as a box of Mandarin oranges and another box full of homemade fudge. She smiled as she put the car into gear and headed towards town, remembering the fun she and Aunt Millie had had making the candy treat.
As a child, Tyne had gone to her aunt’s house a few days before Christmas every year, and together they had made enough dark and light fudge for the family and at least half a dozen friends. This year, Aunt Millie had insisted on making an extra batch for the Harrison household.
The idea of taking gifts to Rachael and Bobby and not to the others, had been worrying Tyne ever since she and Morley had bought the doll and the dump truck in Medicine Hat. How could she single out two children, and leave five other young ones out? The oranges might help, but were not personal gifts. So the homemade fudge, which they had packaged individually in white tissue paper bags, tied with colourful ribbons and a tag with each child’s name, might make up for any disappointment at being left out.
She carefully navigated the side street where the Harrisons lived…

https://www.amazon.com/dp/192676319X

Kariotakis-Polydouri, The Tragic Love Story

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Futile
Internal voiceless tears of grief
have dried up on my pale cheeks
and unwillingly I’ve searched
for the meaning of my demise
and I stood and asked
all my beautiful adornments
is this supposedly love?
And is this same with life?
And I stood and asked why
in my youth filled with fragrance
I heard the voice, the tedious
voice that was leading my way
and I stood there long enough
for my question-laughter to freeze
until the deep darkness slowly
reflected in my eyes.
No voice reaches here anymore
from all the powerful things I had
the wise people looked at me
and left saying a ghost that I was.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763459

Medusa

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Nightmare
He contemplated the evil
that followed
His forbidden fruit
and in a flash of generosity
He mutated it
and threw it to them
attachment-free
But he woke up
and realized
to err twice
not of a wise God

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763769

George Seferis – Collected Poems

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XIII
Hydra
Dolphins, banners and cannon shots.
The pelagos once so bitter for your soul
carried the many-coloured and glittering ships
it swayed, rolled and pitched them, totally blue with white wings
once so bitter for your soul
now full of colours in the sun.
White sails and sunlight and the wet oars
struck the stilled waters with a rhythm of drums.
Your eyes, gazing, would be beautiful
your arms, extending, would shine
your lips, would be alive, as they used to be
before such miracle;
you searched for it
what did you search for in front of the ashes
or in the rain, in the fog, in the wind
even when the lights were dimmed
and the city was sinking and from the stone pavement
the Nazarene showed you his heart
what did you search for? Why don’t you come?
What did you search for?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096TTS37J

The Circle

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excerpt

“Matthew,” she yells, but hears no answer.
She walks upstairs to their bedroom. Everything is the way she left it before
going out. She goes toward the bathroom and before entering, sees his body
through the half-opened door.
“Oh, my God!” she yells to herself. “Oh my God, Matthew…” She leans
against the door frame of the bathroom. “Oh, my God, you found the courage for
that!” It seems as if she’s waiting for an answer from her dead husband.
She lets her body slide down along the door frame to the floor of the bathroom,
and sits staring at him. All the clocks of the world suddenly stop, and Emily
Roberts exists in a timeless state, in a condition of self-absorption and
contemplation, as if amid the petals of a diaphanous flower, or amid the thorns of
a crown an invisible hand has placed on top of her head, and her blood begins to
trickle down her forehead like in a crucifixion. Then suddenly, time strikes loudly
on her left tympanum and pierces her head to the right, making her blink as if
trying to find consolation among the myriad bad thoughts flooding her mind. The
world doesn’t have any consolation for Emily Roberts, not now, not at this
moment, not today. The world has turned into a new purgatory and Emily floats
like a masked misery searching for the proper face. She feels an inexplicable
numbness; not hatred anymore, not anger, not joy—but a feeling of immense
freedom from the chain she has dragged for such a long time. She feels no pain, but
what is it she feels? Is she filled with fear or is she light as a feather, like a free
butterfly flitting from one flower to the other? Time strikes again as if hitting a
loud cymbal and brings her back to this world where she has things to do. She
needs to call Jennifer; she needs to call the police; perhaps she has to call Bevan;
and yes, she needs to call Talal. Oh, God, how she needs to call him now.
She runs downstairs and picks up the phone.
She dials Talal’s number first.
He answers, “hi, sweetheart, what’s up?”
“Matthew. Matthew is dead.”
“What? How? Are you okay? I’m coming right over. Stay calm, I’ll be right
there.”
She dials Jennifer’s cell number.
Jennifer answers, “hi mom, how are you?”
“Sweetheart, it’s your dad. Come home, please. Your dad is dead.”
Jennifer is with Hakim in Ibrahim’s hotel room. They have helped him from the
clinic to his suite at the Sheraton. She’s flabbergasted hearing about her dad being
dead. She says aloud, “What happened? How? I’m coming home, right now.”
Hakim, who has overheard, says, “What happened? Is everything alright?”
“No honey, I have to go home, right now, please. My dad is dead.”

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0978186524

Nikos Engonopoulos – Poems

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Gardens in the High Noon
The white body of the woman
was lit
from within
with such a bright light
that
I had to
take the lamp
and put it
on the floor
so that
the shadows
of our tender bodies
could be projected
on the wall
with a biblical religiosity
the lamp shone constantly
during the whole night,
the source of oil was inexhaustible,
the following day
and the next one
onto the floor
the rich piled
carpets
the beautiful fruit
the brightest flowers
with white and red
oleanders reigned everywhere
the atmosphere was symbolic,
from a yellow: a golden yellow.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763734

Swamped

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excerpt

The afternoon sun was hiding behind light clouds as Eteo started his
walk. The crowds had arrived at the Ambleside seawall as they did
every fine day, and Eteo had to dodge groups of pedestrians from
time to time. He saw Frankie again, but he was busy on his phone
and only nodded and waved with his free hand. Eteo responded in
kind, but suddenly his own phone rang and he stepped to the side of
the path to answer. It was Richard calling from Calgary.
“You never called me,” Richard complained.
“Sorry, I got caught up in things.”
“Never mind, I managed. We’ll see lots of buying as early as tomorrow
or the next day at the latest. Two big brokers will come in.
Stay on the bid and you’ll see.”
“What happened?” Eteo needed a bit more detail than that.
“Just stay on the bid,” Richard repeated, “and let them come and
take the offers. Just follow the market up.”
“I’ll keep my eyes open,” Eteo replied, not very happy to be
fobbed off with generalities. Afterwards he speculated about the various
scenarios of how these new brokers might come into the market.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WP3LMPX

Arrows

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excerpt

Worry over everybody’s salvation overwhelmed me. At the
moment, my own salvation seemed too big a task. I relaxed in the
current and let my body drift as I focused on an old Christmas
anthem. Humming, I sunk my head until only my face broke the
surface, and relished in the gurgling of the water below and the
expanse of mottled sky above framed by brilliant green trees.
Some time later, I pulled myself toward shore, with the water
under my chin. There was no doubt in my mind where I had left my
clothes, but they were not there.
A small monkey darted from one bush to another with my frock
trailing behind him. I scrambled out of the water and picked up the
rosary where I had left it hanging from a branch. I found my
undergarments and shoulder cape muddied near the bushes. I put
on my pants, and, just as I tied the laces and started off in pursuit, a
rustle in the bushes cut me short. I was not at all prepared for such
unadorned beauty.
It was a young woman. Her large eyes reminded me of the sun
drowning in the sea, the moment of its most striking beauty. They
glittered, and I could see the light of her gaze sparkling on the ocean
between us. Her giggle broke the spell; two dimples appeared at the
corners of her mouth. Her teeth were even and white, like pearls.
She offered me my frock and I remembered I was almost naked.
The monkey ran out of the bushes and climbed up her arm,
perching on her shoulder. She was so fulfilling to look at, I almost
resented the monkey’s familiarity.Atiara of yellow flowers adorned
the head of that wild Aphrodite; her long hair was like braided
streams rushing down chocolate-capped mountains.
A stream of words tinkled from the sweetest smile. She offered
me my frock, and the movement of her arm tore my eyes from her
face. She pinched her nose and shook her head, but drifted toward
me nonetheless.
I recovered my frock and balled it up like a buckler, for she was
now close enough for the warmth of her breath to cause the hairs of
my nape to stand up on end. I stiffened as her hands came up to my
face. She kept on talking. I listened to the inflections of her girlish

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0981073522

Troglodytes

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III
The moon’s glowing silver
face smiles as two minnows,
the smallness of the world enter.
The heart’s gracious great
from the watery kingdom
all grandiose and official
as any small with power
of ephemeral duration.
Higher than the mighty whales
they feel with the waves aside them
and they relate life’s state
in their bubbly cosmos:
“The oceans’ movement
has abruptly ceased there are
no currents splashing unto
Poseidon’s palace.
Death in waiting. Psalms and
chants we shall sing
purifications
we must perform
for the orphan wavelets.”

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0978186583