This is the front cover of my first poetry collection. The book is 112 pages long and encompasses 81 poems (all in Greek) that I wrote within a period of three years. For me poetry is a means of expressing and communicating emotions/feelings and ideas but it is also a kind of a quest. Writing for me is also a therapeutic process because when I write I pour out feelings that burden me, I create an alternative reality that helps me to forget my worries and I get the satisfaction of having created something even when I don’t like the end result. I first started to experiment with writing when I was a teenager. Back then I used to write stuff that I called song lyrics instead of poems even though I did not play or write music. For many years after that I could not write anything at all because I felt I was not talented and I lacked inspiration. Every time I tried to write it felt like I was being forced to do it and so I would fail miserably. This changed later on in my life during a period when I was having issues with my mental health and the writing of poetry started to work in a cathartic way for me. At that time also I had managed to deconstruct in my head the idea of ”being or not being talented” and hence it was easier for me to express myself. I began sharing my poetry on my social media accounts and on another blog I previously had and I ultimately decided to contact some publishing houses in order to publish a book. Initially I spoke with people that failed to gain my respect and I was ready to give up until I got an answer from LibrisXMachina which is a small self-organized cooperative publishing project run by people with similar political beliefs to mine amongst them a long-time comrade. I was very excited also as one of my best friends agreed to create this beautiful cover for the book. I’m currently putting together my second collection and I’m hoping I will be able to publish it under similar satisfying conditions within the next few years. The title that you see translated in English is ” Ruins of Dreams and Memories Against a Blue-Black Background”.