PAUL ALOOJIAN: Meeting Melanie in the Pizza Parlor

I nurse my beer, and you look away,
         Duchess of button mushrooms,
         thin blonde princess of pepperoni,
         deserted by your chauffeur and governess.
You stare at the black and white picture
of the old museum on the baby grand –
a poster of Ancient Antarctica on the summer windows.
         Gardens of begonias and sand,
          bowler hats and umbrellas on the foggy pier,
          you sip your soda, dancing around the juke box,
          child of stockings and one day colds,
          empress of mozzarella
          and ageless melodies,
          ballerina of the hidden harbor.

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.