CHRYSSA VELISSARIOU

 

 

Quilt

 

Sometimes

I lose myself among my loves.

From each one—

the love-devourer—

I cut and kept a piece:

a little bone,

a wing, a feather,

something.

 

I never left one whole.

 

My heart, with all it ever loved,

became a quilt—

woven from fragments,

a patchwork of passions and ruins.

Call it a rag,

call it art—

whatever you prefer.

 

With this colorful fabric

I wrap myself at night

like a mummy

that promises resurrection.

A return

from wherever I was lost.

A risen dead.

A zombie.

 

And I wonder:

does true love exist—

whole, untouched?

Perhaps the one who says so

was simply careful enough

not to let a wound remain,

not even a scar.

©Chryssa V.2025

 

Out of the Burning Room

 

I write out of need,

each word a breath I steal from silence—

always beyond the zone of comfort,

balancing on invisible edges.

 

It feels like saving myself

from a burning room—

flames whispering emotions

no one else can translate.

Right now, I’m in the stage of suffocation,

lungs full of words I haven’t yet spoken,

a chest carved open by truths

thirsting for release.

 

When I begin to burn again

in the wildfire of honesty,

I will confess everything—

I will hurl words that are turbulent,

naked, unrestrained—

so I can erupt and survive,

reborn from the ashes

of all that remained unspoken.

 

If I seem like I write for others,

I’m sorry—

I don’t.

But it ends up becoming public—

the ink escapes by accident,

like smoke drifting through an open window.

Still, I do not write for myself either.

I write through myself.

 

I always worry

that I might create something harmful,

yet perhaps honest words

heal wounds

whose presence the listener never suspected.

 

I only hope

my words are not as dangerous to others

as they are to me—

like shards wedged deep inside,

splintered mirrors

that only I can dislodge.

© Chryssa V. 2025

 

CHRYSSA VELISSARIOU

 

CHRYSSA VELISSARIOU is an award-winning educator in Secondary Education and adult education, recognized by the Greek Ministry of Education. As a passionate advocate of non-traditional learning, she has successfully conceived and executed numerous Erasmus+ projects. She is also a writer, with six poetry collections and a novel to her name, and has participated in various poetry anthologies worldwide. She has been honored as a Poet Laureate by two poetry organizations in the United States. With a specialization in Space Physics and an M.Ed./M.Sc. in New Technologies, she integrates theater, poetry, and cinema in S.T.E.A.M. projects. She is multilingual, actively engaged in social solidarity, and an elected member of the Municipality of Larissa. She is keenly interested in sustainable development and the inclusion of marginalized groups.