see(read)tsirbas

Crossing the Street

christos — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 01:10:28 +0000

remember
the first time
you crossed the
street
on your own?
untethered
not clinging
to Mom?
and Dad?

did you ever think
it would come to this?

Shadows

christos — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 15:50:54 +0000

In the foreground
is a darkness
that makes nomads
of us all

Weaving
trails of confusion
as we
tramp through the mud
we seek solace
redemption
and reward

Let us chart new maps
through negative spaces
past Bedouin landscapes
and the mountainous
piles of refuse
that clutter our minds

Look Up

christos — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 16:56:47 +0000

Remember
when we were kids
and we’d look up
at the stars
or the clouds
or at passing airplanes?

Remember
looking up
and wishing
that Superman
or the Starship Enterprise
would zoom past above you?

Remember
when your imagination
was more important
than today’s editorial
in the Star
and the only papers
that mattered
were the Planet
and the Bugle?

Does it feel like yesterday?
Maybe it was.

Life Moves Fast

christos — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 16:51:40 +0000

Growing up, I was a huge fan of Star Trek and I dreamed of a future where I too could own a tricorder or a communicator or a pad like the one used by Captain Kirk. I’d yet to hear of Moore’s Law and I could never have imagined that devices such as these would become commonplace in my lifetime. But, like most of us, I got caught in the stream of progress and here I am in my forties, using machines that have gotten better, faster and smaller, and which would have been wonders to my eight year-old sci-fi and comic book-entranced self.

I wonder what would happen if someone awoke, Buck Rogers or Rip Van Winkle-style, not from centuries of sleep but from mere decades. What would somebody from the 50s think of today? Or even somebody from the 80s? It is a well-worn fictional trope but, if we were to put ourselves in the mind of our younger selves and regarded our many toys and tools and from that perspective how would we feel?

Boys Running

christos — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 17:08:54 +0000

Kids will be kids. Despite their uniforms and their strict religious upbringing, these boys find time to run. Is it the only rebellion available to them? Is this why they take advantage of the absence of their elders to seek what little freedom they can? Where will these boys be in ten or fifteen years? Will they secret mobile phones into their bedrooms and explore reality outside the confines of their closed community? Some of us decry the lack of privacy and the encroachment of the Internet into every area of our lives, but for these two boys, it may the only vector to the outside world. And although these boys seem happy for the moment, is what they have enough?

Is it any wonder that oppressive governments around the world are seeking the right to monitor and restrict the flow of information online?

Butterfly

christos — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 18:16:30 +0000

Stepping away from the writing,
I bask in the sunshine and
remember that the garden is
teeming with life
and that insects
outnumber us,
billions to one,
and that this
is nowhere the ratio
of stars to our sun.

Passage

christos — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 03:30:42 +0000

Grant me safe passage
Or something like that.
As a prayer
It’s easy enough
But like every other prayer
It has gone unanswered.

Disco Driveway

christos — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 21:25:46 +0000

Sometimes
you have to
make the stars
come out
on your own.

Some call it
science.

Some call it
magic.

I call it
disco.

Aftertaste

christos — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 23:46:39 +0000

A million people on the street.
Protesting poverty?
Fighting the government?
Crying out for change?

No.

They came out for
carnival rides and
meat on a stick
served in a part
of the city
they visit
once a year
because there’s
a festive air.

RoboClock

christos — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 22:08:52 +0000

tick
tock
robo
clock

clock by tapiri. photograph by christos.