so she went into the cold dark night her hair wet
her body not too dressed
full of anticipation
of the hours before her;
musics&colours&smiles&perfurmes love lingering in the air
as she kissed friends&enemies hello ready to give herself
herself,all of it
to him
she’d heard his music was made for her
once i realized im the fire that scorched the land to build it anew once
i was young&wordless my spirit broken into a million little pieces scattered in narratives that werent mine once i found refuge in loving a mask madly then a force so strong pushed me against the rocks but the sea failed to keep me in once i glued a broken glass now its an unbreakable diamond slab once i laughed at the bullets left in deserted houses i told them i shared pasta with the enemy with our bellies full he was the enemy no more once the mirror whispered i love you with all your history&flaws &then i loved my country with all its histories&flaws once i crossed a border into the silence of a buffer zone eager to listen to children playing i promised id dance till the streets stirred with life once i felt a paddle of words grow into a flowing river daring me to litter blank pages with letters once my soft voice pierced a room full of people once someone told me a turk is a turk a greek is a greek once he read a poem it said a cypriot is a cypriot.
my future in shapes of circles and staircases in dark brown coffee dregs
a narrative coming from a wise mouth says theres a halo over my head
ζιβανία burns my throat helps me dream of παππού and εβίβας with friends we bid farewell his life i find in old books that smell of times when smiles were never doubted my hymn echoes when i cross i smell vougemvilia
i say kvafe she says kvafe
we are home
gone are the days when he would smile and shout Good morning pretty one come over for coffee listen your dog was out last night when are you getting married was that your boyfriend last night will we go partying up in the mountains in the summer look at my little one she says you’re her big sister is your mamma ok now we’re getting old κόρη Βαλεντίνη
i wave everytime i pass by my childhood self waves back she’s standing right behind him she says you’re here you’re here you’re here she’s too young too understand how fragile memory is how the loss of it means loss of self how painful it is everytime i pass by i wave and he waves back and then he asks
who’s that?
kernel, reflections 