Live Encounters Poetry & Writing 16th Anniversary Volume Six
November- December 2025
The Shallows, poems by Elsa Korneti.
In An Indefinite Horizon
In a blue infinity,
Where the gaze
Rests calmly,
The little cormorant plows
His sea field.
Then he dives
For the first fish
Of the day.
The rower
Balancing,
Like the bird on the branch,
Struggles to tear
The calm water,
Moving his world
Rhythmically.
The world, busy,
For the persistent rower,
Ignores him.
A Dog’s Sleep
The dog
Lives his black-and-white life.
But in his dog’s sleep,
He dreams his own dreams,
Which may be in color.
Then he jolts,
In the serene sleep,
Startled.
Love
Everyone loved him
From a distance,
The one so happy.
Everyone loved him
Persistently, the one so happy
Who stoically endured
The hammering of love,
Remaining, in the end,
Demonic,
Empty.
Garden
The whole world
Should be
An amaranth flower,
A garden,
Embedded in the mind
Of the robin.
He holds, in the secret garden,
The key to childhood,
For the robin
Is an anarchist bird.
It accepts no orders
From anyone
Except
From itself.
Tree
The tree
Shakes its leaves,
Bushy and ambitious,
Full of prophecies,
Juices, and graces.
From its last branch,
Suspicious
Of the coming storm,
Hangs a fruit,
Rotten.
© Elsa Korneti
Active in organizing readings and events with other poets, Elsa Korneti was born in Munich, Germany, but grew up in Thessaloniki, Greece where she still resides. She is a Greek poet, essayist and poetry translator from English, German and Italian. Her career has been similarly diverse: studies in finance were followed by work as a journalist for well-known newspapers and magazines. She has published poetry, short stories, essays, book reviews and translations.
She organized several successful poetry slams in her city and in Athens; she inspired and organized events, and staged original poetic performances. She has published sixteen books of poetry, short stories, essays and translations. In the recent years two of her poetry collections and one short stories collection have been distinguished as shortlisted for the National Award.
Her poetry has been translated into several languages and is also featured in various foreign anthologies and magazines. Recent publications: Poetry, Homo Aquarius (2024), Short stories, Rooms with teeth and other sharp stories (2023).