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Kostya Tsolákis is a London-based poet and journalist, born and raised in Athens, Greece. In 2019, he won the Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition (ESL category). His poems have appeared in Ambit, Magma, perverse, Strix, Brittle Star and Wasafiri, among others. He founded and co-edits harana poetry, the online magazine for poets writing in English as a second or parallel language.
Patrick
by Kostya Tsolákis
It surprised me,
your body responding to mine
like birdsong.
Seven years ago.
It was summer,
and you were alive.
A flint blade,
your drunk tongue,
it skinned me.
I only knew your first name.
I only knew your first name;
it skinned me.
Your drunk tongue,
a flint blade.
And you were alive:
it was summer
seven years ago.
Like birdsong,
your body responded to mine.
It surprised me,
Patrick.
This poem was originally published in Magma 75: The Loss Issue, edited by Adam Lowe and Yvonne Reddick.
You can hear Kostya read the poem at the Magma website.
Photo by João Santos
