by Sean Ewing
Opa!
Something there is about a Greek café: the boisterousness, the kissing all around, the flaming saganaki, the byrani, the Metaxa, the bouzouki band playing, everybody dancing in circles, the breaking of dishes. The owner from the old country stands at our table and talks about peeling the cloves of the garlic and marinating them in the mint and the balsamic with the cucumbers and the tomatoes. He tells us the story of the slaughtering of the pet goat they had when he was a child, and how not one family member at the Sunday dinner table could eat her, this beloved friend, and he tells us this story like we are familiars, part of his family sharing the tales from his childhood memories in Kalamata, Greece surrounded by groves of the ancient olive trees so close to the Ionian Sea.
How many
sheets of baklava
to save the world?
Stephanie K. Merrill is a retired high school English teacher. Her writing has been published in a variety of literary magazines. Forthcoming from Fernwood Press in 2026 is her full-length book of poems, Finding the Heart. Stephanie can be found on Bluesky (stephaniekmerrill.bsky.social) and Mastodon (StephanieKMerrill@zirk.us). She lives in Austin, Texas.
Sean Ewing is a visual artist inspired by nature’s quiet interplay of light and shadow. His work captures fleeting beauty and offers a contemplative refuge, inviting viewers to pause, reflect, and find calm amid the noise of daily life.