My ex rang to tell me you’d finally died, Yiayia and the tears still linger in my eyes, refuse to trickle I’m still suffering the effects of that drink last night staying out late, partying with the Aussies
I wrote the poem Yiayia mou (My grandmother) on the day my grandmother died. I was estranged from my family having recently separated from my husband. When I was told she died it was as if the generational pain of women in my family was crashing down on me, that my grandmother lived a life dictated to her by patriarchy, and I broke out of it. The poem is from my book, Just Give Me The Pills, and my theatre show, Saying the wrong things.
Koraly Dimitriadis is a Cypriot-Australian writer and actor. She is the author Love and F–k Poems and Just Give Me The Pills, and together they form the basis for her theatre show “Saying The Wrong Things”. Koraly makes short films of her poems. She has been published in The Washington Post. Koraly was awarded the UNESCO City of Literature residency in Krakow.
You can find more of her work at www.koralydimitriadis.com
Acknowledgements:
Memoria was written, produced, edited and presented by Natalie V.
Yiayia mou (my grandmother) was written and read by Koraly Dimitriadis. The story was sound edited by Jen Farrow.
Music in this episode was by Blue Dot Sessions, Sage the Hunter, When in the West and The Envelope.
Illustrations by Peta Manning. Her book, See Me Doodle, is out now.
Sound credits
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