by Hilary Sideris
I know ligo,
a little, Ellinica.
I make a pot of avgo-
lemono feeling a fever
coming on, pray to
small gods called
saints who do favors
& specialize. A semi-
colon is a question
mark in Greek. Sideris
means blacksmith
like Ferraro & Eisenstein,
but siderenios, of iron,
said to a friend
facing adversity,
means stay strong.
Hilary Sideris is the author of the poetry collections Calliope (Broadstone Books, 2024), Liberty Laundry (Dos Madres Press, 2022), Animals in English (Dos Madres Press, 2020), The Silent B (Dos Madres Press, 2019), Un Amore Veloce (Kelsay Books, 2019), The Inclination to Make Waves (Big Wonderful LLC, 2016) and Most Likely to Die (Poets Wear Prada, 2014). She is a co-founder and curriculum developer for CUNY Start, a college preparatory program within the City University of New York.