Poems & Perceptions
When the hard rain quits,
fought with the heroism of the sun,
puddles of despair dry, kind weather,
healing has begun.
When the unruly wind diminishes,
losing its power and flex,
stillness fortifies the mind,
welcoming what will be next.
When the shady clouds scurry,
tail between formations and lies,
the view is crystal clear now,
temperate in salvation,
the forecast?
A fair goodbye.
© Michelle Sotiriou 2021
How do you sing a love song,
when the words are hard to hear?
Long are the hours in winter,
a lonely sofa and ice-cold beer.
It’s all good, that’s what people say,
a statement that hides sad truths.
I plead with fictional characters,
assailants jumping from roof to roof!
Lives and lies entwine, lovers fooled,
twisting over tight shoulders to be heard.
Crippling imagination, mind, allow me to be,
out of gas, I’ll walk now, keep on moving to be free.
Undaunted, deep-rooted will resides,
solar plexus awakens; senses alert.
Intuition transpires; my heart in warm hands,
guiding me truly when no one else can.
© Michelle Sotiriou 2021
So you think you’re ugly? Most of us do at some point in our lives and it seems age doesn’t really matter when you feel this way which is why I was guided to this video. A video which reminded me how I felt as a girl and adolescent. I could never take a compliment, could never look someone in the eye when they paid me one, didn’t believe them when they told me I was pretty and would always reply by saying, “No I’m not”.
The struggles of a Greek girl were real though! The mono-brow I wasn’t allowed to pluck and a hairy top lip, ginger in appearance after my cousins introduced me to bleaching; what a stunner!
The struggle still goes on but it is a little different. When a medical problem challenges you by changing the way you look even slightly, you have to find once more, the confidence to say ‘thank you’ after a compliment which you know deep inside to be honest and true.
I recently became the proud owner of a wonky eye, this is what I call it because I have to turn every hurdle into a joke and find that self-deprecation is my only medicine. It’s a coping mechanism which my friends and family know all too well. Luckily, I know my worth, wonky eye or no wonky eye I can still see out of it which is all that really matters and I am well past worrying about what others see when they look at me. What other people think of me is their business, not mine.
© Michelle Sotiriou 2015
She Be Fierce 