Two Poems
by Shahé Mankerian
Poetry
In Twos
My mother toys with dementia.
Our conversations volley between
poetry and my failure to produce
another child. She recites verses
from ancient Armenia because
she remembers them from school.
I feed her memory pills
as she mutters, "Two cranes falter
from our world..." She chews
on air as if to adjust her dentures.
"Your daughter looks lonely like
a lost sandal," she reminds me
and holds my hand in her kitchen
because I'm her second born,
because we don't have much
to say, because silence provides
another poem. "My son, find
the missing pair, the other
goddess, the carnival of joy..."
My Doppelgänger
He stood next to Pope Pius during the coronation
of Napoleon. See also Rodin's rendition of bronze
Balzac in the nude with his arms crossed.
If you envision him with an orange mustache,
he mutates into Obelix just before he bumps into a tree
and falls for Falbala, the village hussy. As he walks
through the central souk in Damascus, the dondurma
vendor yelps, "Hüsnü Borozan!" Likewise, a cab driver
in Manhattan hollers, Hey, Uncle Fester, move
outta the way! But the greatest compliment comes
from the cobbler on Ave. 27. He says, "You're Fats
Waller, you know, Ain't Misbehavin'."
About the Author
Shahé Mankerian is the principal of St. Gregory Hovsepian School in Pasadena. In 2017, three literary journals, Border Crossing, Cahoodaloodaling, and Lunch Ticket nominated Mankerian’s poems for the Pushcart Prize. Recently, Shahé received the 2017 Editors’ Prize from MARY: A Journal of New Writing.