JAMES BALOIAN: The Armenian

for Garabed Baloian

The last number is the first
And the curve in the straight line
Is only a river that runs from a desert

I would name that river
But by nature it leads to the sea
I would enter from north
And climb the backside
Of Mesrob’s mountain
To watch the city of Palu operate

Multicolored scarves and vegetable markets
Awaken indestructibly among stars
To measure the space between breaths
Streets dance with the music of work
Out of the mouth of the mountain
Stone arches crown the Euphrates
It is the beginning of time

I have not yet been born


ARMENIAN TOWN: poetry by Paul Aloojian, James Baloian, Y. Stephan Bulbulian, Ronald Dzerigian, Michael Krekorian, Brenda Najimian-Magarity. Foreword by Dickran Kouymjian, copyright 2001 by the William Saroyan Society