Who are you? - a poem by Chris Zachariou

Who are you?

Dark purple, green and black

these are your colours of today.

But where is your light blue dress

and where is the child's laughter?

Together we reached for Parnassus.

Admit it, you know how much alike we are.

And weren't we both agitated pondering

on such an unlikely friendship?

A Shameless thief - a poem by Chris Zachariou

a prostitute - Picasso

Waking up from a drunken stupor

she looks around her shabby room.

Ashtrays full, plates piled in the sink

and a mattress with soiled bed sheets

—her faithful and trusted servants—

torn from years of loveless coupling.

Lips unlocked - a poem by Chris Zachariou

Arkansas butterfly

Across the ocean
in a country far away
a moth cocooned
works night and day
forging exquisite silk

The words we leave unsaid - a poem by Chris Zachariou

Five friends eating ice cream and apple pie

Five sat around the table
eating ice cream and apple pie
but in between the laughter
and the sips of wine
silence fell and talked so loud
with all the words we left unsaid.

What if - a poem by Chris Zachariou

A Girl Amidst Flowers

All I have are memories—

love and loss, pain and despair;
the remorseless spiral into sorrow
and then the slow crawling back
until I learned to live again.

The Glorious Leader - a poem by Chris Zachariou

Dictators | Stalin

The master puppeteer
gathers all his marionettes
for a grand performance.

He strides on stage
stern and in full control—
the undisputed only king
of their puppet world.

I will bake a cake - a poem by Chris Zachariou

war - Cyprus 1974

My darling son,

there is a cry for war

across the land

by those who have no sons

and it calls for you to fight.

The Pastor's Wife - a poem by Chris Zachariou

Each day the pastor wakes at dawn

when the world is pure and clean.

In the sleepy glow of sunrise

he looks with love at his young bride

and listens to her gentle breathing.

But he knows his work is to redeem

his soul and to save the souls of others.

He kisses her softly on the cheek

and every day like before, he goes out

to the world to do the work of God.

The Ballad of John O'Kelly - a poem by Chris Zachariou

A Body in a Mortuary | Getty Images

Night falls on London Town.

Hustlers, dancers, and musicians
and all who know the seedier side
of city life begin to drift to work.

Cordoba Nights - a poem by Chris Zachariou

wild black curls

A fierce wind scorches Cordoba
    tonight
lewd and shameful like a voracious lover.

Crawling in through doors ajar and open
    windows
it caresses all hungry lovers entwined
the tortured old and the restless young.

The Circus - a poem by Chris Zachariou

A Young Dreamer's Leap

The circus will perform
   tonight
in a bleak and distant land.