Have To
A Have to
Hanging in the middle
By my unibrow. Have to is my middle name.
Everything I do I Have to do.
Even that every 21 days I Have to
Cut my hair makes me Have to be sad.
We are not so different, you and I.
Stop and think, every time I said
That I Have to go, I said I will be back,
And I was back with less of myself and more
Have to. In fact, even now that I breathe,
That we breathe, it’s a Have to. Now that I blink,
That we blink, is another Have to, and if you say
That you don’t Have to, you lie. You.
We are not so different, you and I,
Which brings me to my point that I am not unique.
I am sad
Because my Have to is the same as yours.
When I see me
In other people’s mirror I always Have to say
It’s not what it looks like.
Senseless
My voice is in the kitchen
Cooking lava cake and it is
Ready to erupt. Meanwhile,
In the valley, my sight is
Swimming against the currents
Of the river and hooks
A fisherman. In the library
My taste is reading well-
Seasoned books of the past.
My sound is out in a suit
And a collar mounting
Firmly to the cheek and it
Is serious about finding
Peace. A bomb charms
My touch and it is ready
To blow up. My smell is
Watching the landing on
The moon and something’s
Fishy. Me I am here pressing
Black and white ice cubes
On the back of my tongue.
Christos Kalli, born in Larnaca, Cyprus, is currently studying for his undergraduate degree in English Literature at the University of Glasgow. He is active in the English and American poetry scene, and he is always trying to broaden his network. Recently his poems have appeared or are forthcoming in the London Journal of Fiction, Stoneboat, The Hartskill Review, Sunset Liminal, Prole, Lunar Poetry, among others.