Declaration
Undefined faces, lighted by the reflection of the big
mirror.
The doorbell was heard. No one moved. The sound,
through the window, went out in the night, met
the person who had rung the bell. Then, he, serene
as if he had completed his mission, walked to
the entrance where he stood,
cut a flower, put it in his bosom. “Lucky, he said, lucky
that they didn’t open”. And truly, no one had looked
for him nor anyone had sent him there, neither had he declared
anything; only
that deep ringing for each of them separately and for him
as well.
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Long Listed for the 2023 Griffin Poetry Awards
Night Breeze
I shall leave behind all my expectations so that a true
reason will be born.
My nights kept vigil on the breasts of statues
and suddenly a crazy man screamed and the moon
cuckoo rose; I’m so sad like the young sick girl
who was stopped from going to the garden and
of course she was coming from afar like all danger
while the woman’s laughter trickled like a Byzantine
hymn;
children’s stories written on the wind!
Oh forgetfulness.
Dangle
Your smile
sharpened by sunlight
dangles from your lips
like a cigarette
before you turn
against the wind
and light it with
a single match stroke
as absence
of void conjures
a tangled mesh always
Manolis Aligizakis 