AFRODITE DIAMANTOPOULOU

 

The Syndrome Of Stockholm

 

I tried hard tonight

I laboured

and I finally made it!

I opened up a hole in my life’s wall

and I saw across.

Blue seashores, yellow flowers

red faces!

Who kidnapped me?

Who trapped me in deceit?

Who walled me inside daydreaming of cursed poets?

I have to fill in this hole.

It lets life in and I’m trembling

 

Thoughts

 

There are times I think I grasp your thoughts

within my fingers.

I touch them, I caress them, I feel them

and... I, startled, open up my palm

and let them float through eternity

like the little stars of Leondides.

It’s not that I can’t keep them

Not that I don’t long to make them mine

It’s just I’m scared, others read them and you are betrayed…

 

Some Christmas

 

I wiped the misty window.

The light was yellow, like an old photograph

She, in a festive dress, was bringing goodies back and forth

And he was smoking in the corner, absentminded

The scent of forgotten happiness flooded the soul

Wetted the eyes

None of them turned to look at me

But they were here tonight; and that matters

 

Anger       

 

I was angry with the moon tonight

A huge, transparent balloon

strolling arrogantly in the narrow streets

lightening with indiscretion

forgotten corners

closed shutters

weedy yards

hidden lovers

 

my innermost thoughts…

 

ΑFRODITE DIAMANTOPOULOU

 

ΑFRODITE DIAMANTOPOULOU was born and lives in Thessaloniki, Greece. She is a philologist and holder of a Master's degree in "Communication and Culture", from the Department of Journalism and Media. She works as a philologist in Secondary Education. She has published the poetry collections "Psychogram" 2015, "The Glaucous and the Blue of the Night" 2021, "Fairy Tales through the Mirror" 2024