WORRY

What if I bite into this apple?
Then what?
And maybe a feather somewhere?
WORRY 1

Lis Kalogris 2024


Worrying too much about diagnoses



Like dementia, diabetes, depression 



Or if my rough spots are actinic keratosis



Or even if I spelled that correctly 



And COPD, LDL, BMI, FU et al. 



And what if I bite into this apple



And swallow my tooth? 






WORRY 2

Lis Kalogris 2024



Truth is I need to spend my worry ergs 



On possibly failing the PennDOT eye test 



Then what? 





WORRY 3 With deep reverence to Jenny Joseph’s “Warning”

Lis Kalogris 2024



I used to worry about what I should wear 



I still do but it’s different now 



Then, I wanted to fit in 



Now, I want to look like an elder priestess



Then, I wore ALL Black! All Black! 



Now, it’s all black with a startling raspberry beret 



(Like the one Prince sang about) 



And maybe a feather somewhere? 



(which, if the truth be known, I don’t have the guts to wear a feather but in my mind’s eye I’m wearing a Peacock feather). 

(((((((((((((((((((()))))))))))))
















	


	









	

		
Ghi Ghi’s Hugs
	


	
	

		

She’s coming for me!





Lis Kalogris 2024





I know she’s coming for me
All white haired and large 
With smiles and old lady breath 
Saying my name over and over
And walking slightly off kilter 
Through the kitchen door. 

I’m thinking “oh shit” but
There’s nowhere good to hide 
She backs off for a moment 
Only to adjust her huge glasses
And then she spies me
Scrambling behind the spice rack.

And using her honesty schtick
She states she too ran away 
When she was a little kid 
And some ancestor relative 
Tried to pinch her cheek
She’s told me this story 150 times. 

Then she comes in for a landing 
And seals it with a kiss (SWAK) 
Thankfully on my forehead (Phew!)
I pray she doesn’t trip and fall on me
And believe me she’s not finished yet
She’ll do it all again before she leaves.





More about my grandmother:





We call her Ghi Ghi. 





Never tell Ghi Ghi you don’t know the meaning of a word. She’ll go on forever explaining the word. 





Ghi Ghi has gold teeth. 





Ghi Ghi curses. 





Ghi Ghi once told us she is a crone goddess—more powerful than all the Superheroes put together. 





Ghi Ghi usually wears black.





Ghi Ghi says she will stop wearing black when they discover a color darker than black. 





PS She’s the best gift giver on planet earth. 















For more of my poetry, please check out @eclecticfortheinsane on Instagram.