Live from the Bowery Poetry Club: Alene Terzian

Gartal and the Armenian Poetry Project are proud to release this audio clip recorded live at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City on April 2, 2010. Click to hear Alene Terzian’s  reading of her poem Not a Love Poem # 31.

On our first date,

you killed a cat.

It wasn’t your fault

how it darted

into the empty street,

skidded and slipped,

landed in front of you.

For sure. The cat

crashed into you.

Its orange fur

lodged in the grill

of your sports car,

low to the ground,

hot rod suspension.

You wanted to drive

away, leave the tabby,

forget blood forming

small pools on asphalt.

I should have insisted

on cleaning up, but instead,

I left with you

For months, we found

patches of fur caught

in the metal wiring

of your car. I picked

them out each time,

buried them

in your backyard.