Poetic Philosophy

This poetry collection holds the poems submitted for the 4th Poetic Philosophy Gathering.

Event Details

2026 4th POETIC PHILOSOPHY GATHERING

Date: Saturday, May 30, 2026
Time: 18:00–19:00 Greece time
Location: Online (Google Meet)

Link: Google Meet: https://meet.google.com/tmo-wqga-gpg

Facebook link: https://fb.me/e/bybSWDmcJ

Submission methods

Submit your poems with comment here, or via the Poetic Philosophy Contact Us page! You can also send an email to harmonia-philosophica@hotmail.com.

Submissions

LITTLE WAVES

Small waves sing their song to the night.

They enchant the black sky and the silence beguile.

They tell another story of other shores,

of other martyrs, of lives too short.

Of prayers sailing to the wind,

of mothers who their chorus sing

for sons who will not return

for those who will leave no more.

Listen to them with your eyes closed

and perhaps they will tell on what shore

the light of wisdom runs aground.

Only a few know if not none:

The sea tells it to the wind,

the wind tells it to the man

who still knows how to stand

at the wave’s deep adagio.

~ Stefania Contardi

Ozymandias

I met a traveller from a distant land
Who said: a tower of steel and glass once stood
Amid the dust, and cast their shadow far
Across the sand. A shattered frame of rust
Lies half-buried beside it, broken, cast,
A head with rigid smile and sneer of cold
Command still speaks of one whose restless wars
Fed long on praise, and power gripped in gold.
And on the base, these words remain inscribed:
‘My name is Trump, a ruler none surpass
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!’
Yet nothing stands – no crowd, no gleaming mass
Only the wind across that empty span
Repeats the fragile empire built by man.

~ Tim Boardman

Churchyard

There’s a ramekin, on the bench in the churchyard
pink blossom from the tree above scattered around it like confetti.
It catches the light, casts a shadow across the bench and it is full of cigarette butts.
A small devotion to tidiness as the petals fall.
The pink blossom drifts to the edges of the stone path.
The daffodils are fading now, their heads bowed to their imaginary reflection
And the bench – early morning is usually taken by a solitary man with a can of beer and a careful thirst.
He lifts the can like a quiet hymn
The blossom falls. The light moves on. The bowl fills slowly
No sermon, no hand on the shoulder just the day beginning again for the solitary man.

~ Tim Boardman

Near a Spring

I’ve lost my hair. I’ve lost my lust.
All my shining dreams have turned to dust.
My friends are going or becoming lost.
They’re waiting for me in the hot sands near a spring, where they crossed.

I said to Simon, How lonely does it get?
I still haven’t heard – yet but I hear him laughing,
questioning in the temple of love high above.

I walk with a stick – not for support, but for the look of it, second hand bought.
I was made like this. I had no choice.
The need to express. The need to create.
To prove I exist.

I sit in the house where the light is strong.
Outside, the signs of spring are waiting,
in the garden where they belong.

My friends are going or becoming lost.
They’re waiting for me in the hot sands near a spring, where they crossed.

The river isn’t flowing as fast.
The earth begins to dry.
I stare outside, waiting for you to arrive.

My friends are going or becoming lost.
They’re waiting for me in the hot sands near a spring, where they crossed.

~ Tim Boardman

As If You Were a Stranger

I will always gaze at you as if you were a stranger —
not because I failed to recognize your eyes.
On the contrary…
I recognize those eyes so deeply,
they sink me, drop by drop,
into the abyss of my solitude.
I will always gaze at you as if you were a stranger,
for shadows still dance within the room,
the folded sheet teeters on the edge of the bed,
the scarf sways, trembling
with the heavy breath of my silence.
That frame still leans against the pillow,
conjuring despair and a presence that lingers,
carrying the memory of touch.
I will always gaze at you as if you were a stranger,
for your smile resembles the executioner of my soul,
etching it indelibly
across the horizon of my being.
Like the moon refusing the sun,
weighing the tide in its palms,
as ships loosen their ropes,
leaving behind the wake of homecoming
to pound, to recycle, to revive
the derailed hopes of seagulls—
like a lighthouse collapsing
under a shipwrecked “I love you,”
crashing with windborne pleas
upon your shore.
I will always gaze at you as if you were a stranger,
because my wounds bloom into spring,
and sleepless winters burn
in the lava of your eyes.
Because my hands anoint
awkward wishes
that surrendered
to the marshlands of fear.
I will gaze at you as if you were a stranger,
while I weave Clotho’s ashes
along your footprints—and you bolt the dreams
to the reefs of estrangement,
scattering love’s ashes like golden dust,
tracing the absence you see…
within my gaze.

~ Giorgos Grigoropoulos

Untitled

And what if

We are…

All of us – just Healthy –

Whatever the conditions might be…

And what if

We are always getting

The best of the moment –

In brief …

And what if

We skip the duality –

The good and the bad,

The high and the low…

And what if

We meet the reality

With calming, loving, gentle song…

And what if

We forget about judgement

And lose intentions to compete…

And what if

We still have the wisdom

To hear and to see…

And what if

We still have the courage

To make this world

Complete…

And what if words and sounds don’t matter…

And silent is the world ?

What color would be better

The black, the White, the Blue?

And what if

you and I are symbols

Of something never born

Does it really matter

What would be the score?

And what if

We are nothing…

Just wondering

What if???

A motion in the universe

…a between tone…

April 2026
Stob, Bulgaria

~ Andriana Andreeva

Previous Poetry Collections

Winter Whispers Collection 2025

A light breeze [January 2026 collection]

Falling leaves [March 2026 collection]

Sunny Shadows Poetry Collection [May 2026]

Shallow Seas [June 2026] (current)