what a shame,

[Kostya Tsolakis]

this precious galaxy of spittle shooting out of my mouth
onto the gum-infested kerb this sober Sunday morning, not
into the coral throat of a kneeling lad on boots-only night
at the Vault – his wide-open eyes, fixed on the driblet hanging
off my lip, saying: you & I are earth & we were born for this

Kostya Tsolakis is a London-based poet and journalist, born and raised in Athens, Greece. His poems have appeared in Ambit, Magma, Strix and Wasafiri, among others. In 2019, he won the Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition (ESL category). He founded and co-edits harana poetry, the online magazine for poets writing in English as a second or parallel language. His debut pamphlet will be out with ignitionpress in November 2020. You can find him on Twitter.