The Judges
‘She’s a lawless woman’
judge number one said
‘firstly, she has no wedding band’
accused judge number two
emphatically stroking his gray hairdo
‘she has neither title of ownership
nor a mark on her thigh’
judges three and four, who
were twins, said at the same time and
fluffed their black robes
as if ready to fly.
‘She sells her body and
in the same way her soul’
judge number five coughed
he suffered from stomach aches.
‘And the worst: she’s a poetess’
the sixth judge declared
his double chin trembled in fear
‘you know, like those who foresee
future disasters or
put their heads in an oven or
travel on the Orient Express
drinking tea in inexistent cups.’
She listened to them reading their lips
sequence of their words never reached her ears,
she only heard the walk of the tortoise
running to catch the rabbit or
the sound of a blossoming rose.
Then with a knife she severed her left breast and
like an orange she offered it to the judges.
‘My name is Antigony,
she cried out with courage,
and this is the way I love.’
Manolis Aligizakis 