Category: Uncategorized

ether

a dream
a memory
from a life lived
or living 

maybe mine
maybe someone
else’s

sleepy
sun, still
waking, weaving
between blades 
of thick Iowa grass
yellowing and resolute

worshipping
their golden 
god. 

eternal beds
canopied with iron gates

glorious even in
decaying.

a cemetary in Iowa // a.s.m 

կերասի շրթունքներ 
վարդագույնի այտեր
նուշի աչքեր
աշխարհի ամենավաղ պարարտ
այգի ես դուն: 

cherry lips
rosy cheeks
almond eyes:
you are the earth’s
most fertile garden.

garden of earthly delights // a.s.m

oh, the way they lie
through glass lenses
for dollar signs 
it isn’t true love
unless you apologize 


show me something real
where the love hurts like i do
i don’t want fake tears


i want passion that burns 
lovers to the ground
and dwindles down 


and they emerge like phoenixes
from the dust.

the movies lie // a.s.m 

i say i’ll be back soon
knowing full well
soon may not be soon
enough


no matter if it’s now
or in your final moments

it is going to break
my heart, i know
i am denying the inevitable


whether or not this is the last time,
i must learn to say goodbye

how do you say goodbye when you know it may be your last time? // a.s.m

am i going to be like
my favorite song in tenth grade:
the one i memorized all the words to
& listened to 347 times
which subsequently lost all its meaning?


or the quotes & photos i hang up
on my bedroom wall with the
intent to inspire:
the ones that i wake up to everyday
& seize to notice anymore?


will you see my face & hear my laugh
& look into my eyes one
too many times: will i
begin to become
ordinary, too?

out of the ordinary // a.s.m

there are some souls
who see and feel beyond
their own existence;
interwoven with the earth herself


gifted a sixth sense for the
silent suffering
a heart heavy with the knowledge;
a heart wanting to love
us all the more


we were born from the same spirit,
i think
your words
moved within me like my own


we loved beyond borders
or boundaries
or fear
hearts bloody wide open to each other
to us all
to it all


we shared a connection we did not
always have the words for
i was the parts of your life you
did not live, and
you were mine 


your silences often heavy
i knew
we shared the same light  
because we had the same darkness in us, too

Louie // a.s.m

sometimes my heart takes me
to the walled courtyards of the Old City
to the streets where my նենե (grandmother)
laughed and played
and carved her initials into stone

sometimes it calls me to
sandstone cities
and undulating deserts
where my ancestors fled and
where the mosque’s 
haunting prayers stir
my sleeping soul

sometimes i hear
the melancholy songs of
my mother tongue
and i long to stand on the հող (dirt)
half of my being was formed from,
to dig my toes into my
roots

sometimes i’m drawn towards
places i do not know, but
that i hear calling me

but louder than the voices
echoing in ancient monasteries
and stronger than the force of
my meandering spirit
is the pull to you 

you are where I ache to go back to

you are my home // a.s.m