Tag: original poem

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

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

forgiveness is falling from
the sky
pushing dirt and gravel 
down the streets, 
singing. 

and i stand outside
mouth and heart open 
wide and let it 
drench me, inside 
and out

clean and
consume me.

and as it permeates my skin, 
i will not fight it 
but let it in.

i’m ready to forgive // a.s.m

it is always
mitigation with you,
always putting out fires but
never trying to prevent them
letting the sagebrush grow
just enough that you can
consume it again


but i thought you were the adult
here


i thought being an adult meant
knowing how to love
like really
love without hurting
each other


you yell at me from across
the table &
even in the dim light
i know there are eyes 
on us


& in silence i stare at
you & marvel
that of all the conceptions
occurring in the year of 1994,
of all the uteruses &
fetuses to inhabit those uteruses
& consciousnesses to inhabit those fetuses
God decided to give me
to you


it hurts too much to think
there was no method to this


again, you apologize
& allow the act in itself
to forgive you


you snore heavily in the car
as i drive us home.
while you dream i wonder
when i will finally say
it’s okay

a.s.m 

some days
you are silent
& to me it feels greater
than the 3,000 miles
between us.


& in this silence I fear
the worst
& in this silence I fear

a silence I know well

a silence I have felt
before

withdrawal of
emotions & words
intended to wound;


in my heart I know
you always call

but I am still learning
to feel silence
as more than a
punishment.

getting over a cold shoulder // a.s.m