Adrianne Kalfopoulou’s latest publication is Ruin, Essays in Exilic Living. Her third poetry collection, A History of Too Much is forthcoming in 2018. She lives and teaches in Athens, Greece where she currently heads the English and Modern Languages Dept at Deree College. She’s also on the faculty of the Mile-High low residency program at Regis University. In her spare time she works with refugee groups.

The Stranger Joy

After the teeming sadness
After the sun reflected warmth in a hotel blankness
After I stared at the back of his head of curls
After we kissed fleetingly
After he told me of the Angel of Death
After the air took on weight
After I dressed in silence
After breathing in the sheets’ stale tobacco
After listening to the faint sound of passing cars
After the walls of windows splintered
After I knew I could walk the next block alone
After waiting to be offered water
After my brain split in a vast galaxy
After I asked for help
After realizing there was nothing in the room
After I tried to kneel
After he laughed himself to sleep
After joining him at the bar
After I found my way
After giving him the gifts
After I waited
kissed fleetingly
in the teeming sadness
with the Angel of Death
breathing in the sheets’ stale tobacco
listening to the faint sounds of passing cars
realizing there was nothing in the room
my brain split in a vast galaxy
asked for help
waited to be offered water
tried to kneel
dressed in silence
stared at the back of his head of curls
joined him at the bar
the walls of windows opposite me splintered
the sun reflected warmth in a hotel blankness
the air took on weight
I waited
giving him the gifts
he laughed himself to sleep
I found my way
knew I could walk the next block alone
after that, only after that, could I say I was okay.