Fotoula Reynolds is a writer of poetry, born in Australia of Greek heritage. She is the author of four poetry collections and is published widely in journals, reviews and magazines. She has been anthologised multiple times in Australia and internationally. Fotoula was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2019. She is the first prize winner of the 2024 Greek-Australian Cultural League Book Award for her collection titled Kairos.
At the kitchen table, home and life pours like a bottomless cup of Greek coffee. Hard conversations about ‘end of life’ unravel because love lives there. Hands speak a language that express truth, it is art conveyed and performed. In the kitchen, voices rise and fall in tonal chaos like a choir untrained yet clear messages always seem to sing through.
Long periods away leave me yearning and longing for the place I call home. I know where I am from, I know where I belong. Cinnamon and nutmeg permeate through the house and cloves are often found wrapped in Mother’s handkerchief. Basil and oregano release their aromas and waft in through the kitchen window. Home is where the garden calls me to remember that nature lives there too.
Bereavement knocks at the door, sorrow depletes my zest for life, and home is where grief lays down its head to rest. Home is recuperation, a holiday stay with a 5 star rating service. The pantry reveals bottled secrets of cooking goodness, each shelf carries the weight of family and carefully prepared herbs and spices tell stories of the past.
There is no entry fee to the photographic gallery. In no particular order, an exhibition of faces and places are framed and hung on the walls where history is presented. All who have lived and passed through return like wildflowers to bloom again. I nestle into the bosom of home, it is there my heart and soul is planted.
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Poetry in this post: © Fotoula Reynolds
Published with the permission of Fotoula Reynolds