Anastasia Vassos
Thessaloniki, 1970
On Egnatia Street
a skinny boy balances
a copper tray
of Greek coffee
for the old tailor
dressed in black.
This city’s ripe love
stitches the quiet
fabric of my bones.
*
Just so. Inside the Church
of Agios Dimitrios
a priest casts
his rounded censor
held by three
delicate chains.
Alone there
his prayers ascend.
*
Meltemi winds appear
the way faith appears
unrelenting. The sea
beside the taverna
could drown me
if I let it.
On picnic tables
sand scatters
like salt.
The poems of Anastasia Vassos appear in RHINO, SWWIM, Rust+Moth and Comstock Review among others. Her poem “End of Life Directive” received honorable mention from Marge Piercy in 2020’s Joe Gouveia Outermost Poetry Contest. She is the author of "Nike Adjusting Her Sandal" (forthcoming from Nixes Mate, 2021). A Best of the Net nominee, she is a reader for Lily Poetry Review, fluent in three languages, and a long-distance cyclist. She lives in Boston.
Return to March 2021 Edition
On Egnatia Street
a skinny boy balances
a copper tray
of Greek coffee
for the old tailor
dressed in black.
This city’s ripe love
stitches the quiet
fabric of my bones.
*
Just so. Inside the Church
of Agios Dimitrios
a priest casts
his rounded censor
held by three
delicate chains.
Alone there
his prayers ascend.
*
Meltemi winds appear
the way faith appears
unrelenting. The sea
beside the taverna
could drown me
if I let it.
On picnic tables
sand scatters
like salt.
The poems of Anastasia Vassos appear in RHINO, SWWIM, Rust+Moth and Comstock Review among others. Her poem “End of Life Directive” received honorable mention from Marge Piercy in 2020’s Joe Gouveia Outermost Poetry Contest. She is the author of "Nike Adjusting Her Sandal" (forthcoming from Nixes Mate, 2021). A Best of the Net nominee, she is a reader for Lily Poetry Review, fluent in three languages, and a long-distance cyclist. She lives in Boston.
Return to March 2021 Edition