Featured Poet - Anna Mavroidi
ABUSE
I came back to you
with my hope in tatters—
believing you might change.
Covering the wounds
so my body wouldn’t remember.
Crushing reason
to dance blindly
once more with you.
Holding in my hands
a thousand excuses—
for the children, for my parents.
I came back in summer,
not to remember
the heavy winter
I spent with you.
You will greet me as I dreamed,
only to throw me once again
against the rocks.
How you love
to rescue me from shipwreck ...
STRANGE SPECTACLE
With all your wounds you embraced me,
filling my body with blood,
and your smile shattered
in the triumph of irony in your eyes.
A curious staging—
a strange spectacle.
Broken glass scattered on the floor,
nails in my palms for remembrance.
It was a rainy afternoon, the funeral.
Sorrow gaped from my pockets,
and forgiveness was too damp
to dry my anger …
DEAD PEOPLE
Tonight drips with frozen silence
and I am wrapped
in a white sheet.
As I sink slowly into the abyss,
do not touch me.
I ache wherever you lay your hand.
My nights resemble death.
So many dead people patrol my body.
Each day,
I bury someone anew ...
THE HOUSE DRAWN WITH A COLOUR PEN
The house, drawn with a colour pen—
its chandeliers, gallows in every room.
Our dreams stretched
on Procrustes’ bed.
No windows anywhere.
From the doorway, grief yawns wide.
We drove the knife deep into our hearts,
and silence bled—
cold, unending.
SIMPLE LINES
Simple lines trace the pattern of my life—
plain, unbending strokes.
Uphill paths, punctuated
by drops of sweat in every pause.
On the descents,
stones tumble into ditches—
quiet hollows where I hide,
hoping no one sees me bend.
My face buried deep in my hands—
the same hands that once held you warmly.
Simple lines mark the map of my life,
though my soul longed for something else.
Only hope remains: the perspective.
Today, I drew it.
THE ROPE
An invisible rope
binds the two of us.
With wounds and blood,
we stand bound together.
And no matter how you pull,
it will not break.
Not even time can wear it down.
So the years go by.
We carry each other through the struggle,
and we know well—
the more our bodies fill with wounds,
the knot will never loosen.
ABOUT THE POEMS:
These poems explore the echoes of trauma, the weight of memory, and the ways these experiences shape our bodies, hearts, and minds.
ABUSE and STRANGE SPECTACLE reflect moments of direct harm and the raw, lingering pain that follows traumatic experience. DEAD PEOPLE captures the haunting presence of loss, fear, and hypervigilance in everyday life. THE HOUSE DRAWN WITH A COLOUR PEN and SIMPLE LINES reveal the fragility of inner space, routine, and the self in the aftermath of trauma. THE ROPE illustrates the bonds we sometimes cannot break and the lasting traces of connection and suffering. Each poem is a personal reflection on survival, endurance, and living with unresolved wounds.
ABOUT ANNA
Anna is a Greek poet and a member of the Union of Greek Writers. She is the author of five poetry collections, and her work has appeared in numerous anthologies and literary magazines. Her poetry has received multiple awards, with several individual poems earning distinctions in literary competitions. She studied Psychology at the American College of Greece (Deree College) and completed postgraduate studies in Clinical Psychology at the University of Indianapolis, as well as in Health Care Management at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM). She has specialized in Systemic and Family Therapy and holds a postgraduate qualification in Applied Clinical Supervision through distance education from the Institute of Relational and Group Psychotherapy. Alongside her literary career, she works as a counselor and psychotherapist in private practice in Athens, where she lives and writes.
E: anna.mavroidi@gmail.com
FB page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100007559025154
Instagram: @mavroidianna
