Panagiota Christopoulou Zaloni

By Fire

Your courage went to
the limits of craziness.
You decided mindlessly
to ruin "those statues"
"by fire"
You committed
an unworthy act...
I didn't have time to hide the statues
Least of all the one of Motherhood
You destroyed it awfully
"by fire".

Spiros Kitsinelis

Mermaid Cry

I hear the voices of mermaids at the sea
crying for the loss of love and life,
dreaming of a land where they'll be free.

Their only partner is the wreckage
of the sailors' lust and fears,
forever locked in the horizon's touch.

With dimming lights ornamenting the passing hope
and forming eyes on dormant rocks,
when night has fallen and work can stop.

This darkness merges in an eternal play
the starless heavens with Neptune's world,
while demons surface until the light of day.

This cry I am hearing comes from within
for there's no creature that could exist,
without reflecting man's soul or sin.

Dimitris P. Kraniotis

Illusions

Noiseless wrinkles
on our forehead
the frontiers of history,
shed oblique glances
at Homer’s verses.
Illusions
full of guilt
redeem
wounded whispers
that became echoes
in lighted caves
of the fools and the innocent.

Chrishoula Demetrakakis

I Am Not Afraid

I am not afraid, of the fights
and the forfeit of my will,
but I am afraid ,for war to knife,
that turns the fire, around to me!

I am not afraid of revolution,
that lights! the darkness of my soul,
but I am afraid, of any violence ,
that ruins the lines, of all and most.

I am not afraid to be alive!
but I am afraid, to be content,
with my self and pass thought hide,
against the rules to life and death.

I am not afraid, the end of walking,
that show me where, I have to stay,
but I am afraid, if on my way,
forget, my lines and then, I bend!

I am not afraid, if any day,
I 'll loose the life and dreams to live,
but I am scared, a thousand times,
till then, to be, a dead ! in need!

Dimitris P. Kraniotis

Ideals

Snow-covered mountains,
ancient monuments,
a north wind that nods to us,
a thought that flows,
images imbued
with hymns of history,
words on signs
with ideals of geometry.

Konstantinos Bouras

Unicorns Of The Desert

Be mellow like clouds
Be mellow like tempestuous sea
with tranquil depth
Be mellow like cyprus trees
inflamed by thunder
Be mellow with the sword
in the holy war your psyche
summons you
Be mellow like the thorn
piercing the breast
of a nightingale
compelling it to sing
Be mellow like the dagger
plunged into your flesh
to whiten
the lungs in light
Be mellow amongst ogresses
dwelling in your chamber
be gallant
gaze at them if you may
for above water Medusa
becomes a lump of clay
Be mellow hearken to the song of the sirens
fasten on the one spar
with Ulysses
But alas
if at the moment
of the most exquisite happiness
you plug your ears
your sanity shall be lost
Be mellow even encountering your demon
ejecting swords
sow them in your chest
like a helmet
Be mellow
and let the indian uttering
that once you find your other shelf
you shall perish
swing along with it
in the water of the one cave
bite its tongue
pierce its frame through daily
for if you feel remorse
you shall be lost.
Be mellow
sleepless for eternity
if you must
sowing flowers in the desert
to be uprooted by simoon
Be mellow
like the sword
without a sheath.

Kiki Dimoula

Thieves In Mind

Crying she describes
how burglars wrecked the house
the wretches took her jewellery and
raped
old women values.

Isn’t she happy?

It’s been years since any thief
set foot in my house
even for coffee.
I deliberately leave the pot unlocked.

On returning each time I pray
to find the door’s canines broken

the lights shaking as if just having
knocked
against a tall earthquake’s head

to see the burial gifts stolen
from the mirror’s mummy kingdoms

as if someone had shaved in the
bathroom
and whiskers had sprouted on my
beardless touch
their refutation bound hand and foot
on the floor

and, coming at its leisure from the
kitchen, steam
from warm footprints with lots of
cinnamon on top.

Titos Patrikios

Latest News

Dead chimneys, smokeless
mouths emptied of laughter,
hearts that won and died-
we must bridge the lips of the abyss.

Humans, above all humans,
persistent, restless, shameless,
without doubt,
hiding nothing,
let's spill out in the streets again
to build life once again,
to build life first.

A sky full of voices
and overturned clouds
that were executed this noon-
the newspapers got this bit of news
just as they went to print.
Not one of them wrote of the fountains
that opened upon their tortured bodies.

Katerina Anghelaki-Rooke

Exodus

Leaving Lipiu behind
I understood that I had lost my orientation
towards something with real smell
towards the wrist's tender skin with the lovely pulse.
I took a walk around myself
and though heading for the boat
ended up in front of a store all shut up.
Behind the windowpane black with dust
a tragic jacket stood, no one
would ever want its warmth.
The sun had set
and all the streets began
to howl in unison. "No thoroughfare."
I left. Cupping my hands
as though holding the final breath
of a frozen bird,
I protected the final handshake.

Larry Cool

Only Eyes

My body, the heating stove, the bed
Softly sway in the universe
Bright fire-balls pass through.

A baby - myself
Dangles above the table
Through his diaphanous body birds fly
Civilisations rise and fall
- "All the worlds break cover from my cry
All the stitches you will write, are here"
He says and he offers to me an ink bottle
- "No" I answer
And dousing the pen into the night, I write:
"The world and I never existed".

The ink climb on my fingers
Spreads out and I disappear step by step
In the place two eyes remains.