Dear stranger,
let's hide
behind the data.

Let's hide
behind those numbers:
bold, italics,
it does not matter,
as long as we have 
the numbers to rally
behind.

It does not matter
that we are still invisible
and they do not see us
in the face.

We do not have names
stranger.

Names, we cannot hide behind them;
fonts cannot hide us,
words put together in sentences
sounds, rhythms, melodies,
cannot hide us NO.

Numbers and machines alone
can keep us invisible.

Come stranger,
it's still not safe for us
to have a face with a name,
a voice with a pitch
of our own.

Dear stranger,
the numbers
so dear to us,
hold on to them.

I wonder
for how long
behind this shield
of data,
numbers,
truths
and myths,
scientifically hidden,
spiritually absent,
mysteriously deaf and mute,
dead or alive,
like a number
dear stranger. 

J.GJ.
June 2023

What do I do
with your worries
mother?

Save them
like jewlery
family heirlooms?
Or hide them
with joyful
dreams and songs?

What do I do
with your worries
mother?

Carry them 
like a camel does 
with water?
Or mix them up
with flour
and bake them to peace?

What do I do
with your worries
mother?
When they become me
without leaving you?

Joris Gjata
January 2022

When somebody
approaches you 
with fear,
tell me
what do you do?
Do you want to 
talk to them?
Do you want them 
to be with you?
Do you tell them 
stay with me,
fear is not you?
Maybe.
Maybe you fear them too.
Or maybe ,
maybe maybe,
you get curious about them, 
and they get curious about you.

​Joris Gjata
November 2021

Ndihme
Nuk te kam kerkuar ndonjehere ndihme
Ndihme
Ishte gabim e dobesi te kerkoje ndihme
Ndihme
Nuk ishte e rendesishme si e ku 
Ndihme
Gabim e shihnin te gjithe vuajtjen e femijerine
Ndihme
Per te qene e padukshme duhet te shnderrije
Ndihme
E pastaj me drite nuk mund te flisje as erresiren
Ndihme
Ti ishe e vetmja shprese, e vetme
Ndihme
Ishe e forte me lote te padukshem
Ndihme
Kishe admirim te vuajtjes tende te heshtur
Ndihme
Per leke e pasuri punoje
Ndihme
Te duhej vetem te te shikonin e te te flisnin
Ndihme
Te duhej te shiheshe pa dyshim, pa frike, me gezim, me kurajo e mirenjohje
Ndihme
E groposur thelle ne fjale pa vlere te skeletosura te holluara te zbrazura 
Ndihme
Ndihme moj!

Joris Gjata
Mars 2020

I saved a spider's life
one day
when I noticed
its arms
thin and slim
and fragile looking
on the white
hand washing bowl.

I grabbed it away 
with a towel,
a paper towel,
kept it there
alive,
safe from the running water.

I saved a spider's life
one day,
and I hope it remembers,
though it does not matter
as long as I remember.

I saved a life,
to whom I can say hello
later today,
and tomorrow.

J.GJ.
November 25, 2019

I live my life
in poetry
I cannot remember
a difficult time
I did not rely 
on it
for finding me
for listening to my voice
for making sense
of loneliness
presence
others
life.
Thank you!

J.GJ.
November 25, 2019

I thought
Nobody could see my mind
I thought
Freedom is in my thoughts.

Thoughts 
I held them for me,
protected.
Then in that silence
I drowned.

I came up
swimming
screaming.

Eureka!
​
My body
is what they cannot control,
my actions.

My freedom was locked in thoughts
And the key was being out,
with my body.
In action
I rose.

I learned
Freedom 
was in doing,
with my body
for my body
of which my mind was a part.

Eureka!
​
J.GJ.
Dec. 26, 2020

Streams of tears
To push the boat
Into rapids and waterfalls deep.

Rivers of sweat
To float the sails
Into splashing and smashing seas.

Oceans of piss
To drain the bucket
Into spongy springs underground.

Can I moisten
With a mist of blood lava
The milky juices
Of my icy cocktail,
To melt my glacier
And fill the glass
With my clouds' heaviness, 
Or spill acid rain?

J.Gj.
June 16, 2020

Shikoj deboren qe bie
Po nuk jam atje
Tek floket e bardha
Me duhet te shkoj
Me to te udhetoj.
Por me humbin,
I humb nga syte.
Kembet nuk kercejne dot,
mbi disqet e bardhe
dredha dredha
mbi akullin e bardhe
te qendisur imet.

J.Gj.
17 Nentor 2019

Ndoshta kam harruar
Litaret, ato per tu hedhur,
ato per tu lidhur,
ato per tu varur
e ndoshta per te shpetuar
nga mendimet...

J.Gj.
17 Nentor 2019