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ArmenianPoetryProjectAuthor: Lola Koundakjian
Armenian Poetry, for poetry and Armenian language lovers. armenian-poetry.blogspot.com This project is curated and produced by Lola Koundakjian in New York. To contact APP, send an email to: ArmenianPoetryProject[at]gmail[dot]com. Language: hy Genres: Education, Language Learning Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Aida Zilelian: Elegy for What I Cannot Write
Wednesday, 29 July, 2026
I never wrote a poem about war.As a child every storm shookthe walls of my home.I never wrote a poem about war.In classrooms I read the scene of Juliekplaying his violin in the Giewitz snowfall.I never wrote a poem about war.At six, I was given thick-bound books filled withpages of my decapitated poets.I never wrote a poem about war.All my dears are toiling, ferventas they cry out the death tolls of children.I never wrote a poem about war.I haven’t the right. How can I ever knowthose sorrows. I dare not try.I never wrote a poem about war.Not even today when a cellist playedK[h]atchaturian on a pile of wreckage in Beirut.I’ll never write a poem about war.What can I say that hasn’t been said,when I’m silenced into prayer for the deadand the dying.Aida Zilelian lives in New York City. This poem appeared in Decelaration.
