A Poem from Effie Mihopoulos

On the Accessibility of Apparitions
By Effie Mihopoulos

There is a straightforward way of doing everything,

going from point a to b.

How many times do you follow the right path,

how many times do you make the right decision?

If you play your cards right

Every hand can be a card trick,

a magic act.

Instead of a progression through a hallway

of open doors,

you will find yourself passing through

a succession of walls,

dissolving onto the other side

as if it were a filmy curtain

that you gently pushed aside.

You will gradually find yourself

becoming a ghost

of your former self.

A translucent scrim to be stared through,

like at a tragic opera,

or a ballet blanc.

It’s so much easier to travel as an apparition

than not.

With so many conveniences at your beck and call.

It makes the trip from point a to b

so much more accessible.

How many times will you count the ways

in which the roads vary or disappear,

in which the walls become transparencies

of what used to be?

How many times before your ghost considers

its genius to walk through thin air

and parlay it into a bargaining effort

to get from point b to c?