Poetry of Kostas Hrisos


Useful

 Today the wind was rattling my window
 more than ever.

 I wedged a piece of paper in the gap.
 It was your letter.

---

 Last favour


Sleep,                                                            
my most trusted childhood friend,
you have looked after me
ever since my first ever breath,
mentor and healer,
you have raised me with such love and care,
I've come to learn that you are
subtlety preparing me,
dose by little dose,
for that certain ultimate moment,
that with such cunning and skill
I have been avoiding so far,
the time I must meet with your brother,
Death.

---

 In Argos

Argos:The town never without a soul
The town never the soul without

 At night the policemen come out armed.
But, in the early hours, the teenagers,
going home drunk from the tavernas,
are not scared to cut oranges
from the trees of the square
to play ball with, between spread out tables,
exchanging curses with tired lorry drivers
speeding to make it to the market in time.
Later, the date comes that many leave,
some for studies others to join the army.
The lucky ones will return
only for holidays.

---

I am...


I am but a wedge in a gap of space,
a tick in a lapse of time.
Dreams push my life back and forth,
as I get bigger with the sun going down
as I get smaller with the sun coming up.
To give up hope is fatal.
When you stop thinking of me
I am no longer.

---

That's me.

My body, a bed sheet,
Spread out on the bed of pleasure,
Stained from the excesses
Of my senses.

My soul, a tablecloth,
Spread out on the table of knowledge,
Stained from the banquets
Of my mind.

That's  me, a frail curtain,
Hung out on the line of life
Weathered by time.

 

---

With out you


Like the frost digs
The cold into my body
And the wind, so slowly,
Twists it in my flesh.

So the night digs
"Alone" into my mind
and silence, so slowly,
 twists it in my soul.

---

All poems by Kostas Hrisos
(c)2002

Kostas Hrisos was born in Thessalonica in the north of Greece in 1955. He moved to Argos, the longest inhabited town in Europe, when he was 8 and lived there until 1975, when he immigrated to England. Now he lives in Newcastle upon Tyne, teaching Information Systems at the North Tyneside College.

  Kostas has been writing poetry since school and his poems have been published in many Greek and International literary magazines and acclaimed poetry sites on the Internet such as Stirring, ABC tales.com (poem of the day) and Poetic Reflections (poem of the month). Kostas published a collection titled “in other words” in Greek and English in August 2000. Click HERE
to visit his website.


 Kostas Hrisos, 

Artwork: The Kiss of Death by Munch

Music: Savatovrado

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