A Poem by Vasiliki Albedo

The Bittersweet

I speak only desire that summer,
recite Anais Nin, Carson’s Eros
the Bittersweet, suffering the heat,
my centre pulsing like a magnet.

Sixteen, lodging with friends
of the family, sweet on the son—
brown eyed, freckled, biting
his lip as he reels in a fish

from the cliff where we burn through
afternoons and I pray nothing catches,
for the chance to linger after sunset.
All night on the viscid sand our bodies

soak in brine, as we watch ships
bloat into focus, a frenzy of water
behind them, until the sparrows awaken,
their song more bait than romance.

And I have wanted him so much
to kiss me all that summer on Skiathos,
with its inlets and pine forests,
where the Greek flag was raised

for the first time. Look at him,
the Aegean at his fingertips
swelling and splitting its body
at his lightest touch.

Shortlisted for a Forward Prize for Best Single Poem (written) 2024, Vasiliki Albedo is the author of the tiny chapbook Arcadia, forthcoming in the next issue of Poetry International, and Fire in the Oubliette, joint winner in Live Canon’s competition. Her poems ave appeared in Poetry London, the Poetry Review, Oxford Poetry, Poetry Wales, Magma, The Rialto, And Other Poems, berlin lit, and elsewhere.