Shahé Mankerian: Mother Gives Dementia a New Name

The television bleats like a kumquat sheep.
The Ojibwa postman knocks on the door

when she washes the feet of the dining table.
Lucullus must be her lover; she sees him

sitting in the coffee residue. We don’t let her
kiss the demitasse. In the backyard,

the apricot tree hangs her Komitas;
her chemise hangs from the terracotta chimney;

she hangs Armenian poems on the clothesline.
When the telephone doesn’t ring, she speaks to it:

The cat likes to sleep in the refrigerator.
She calls all her sons, Rostom, and offers

the cleaning lady lozenge because she coughs
like someone’s daughter.

This poem appeared in Proximity Magazine. Shahe Mankerian’s recent manuscript, History of Forgetfulness, has been a finalist at four prestigious competitions: the 2013 Crab Orchard Series in Poetry Open Competition, the 2013 Bibby First Book Competition, the Quercus Review Press, Fall Poetry Book Award, 2013, and the 2014 White Pine Press Poetry Prize. Shahé serves as the principal of St. Gregory Hovsepian School in Pasadena and the co-director of the Los Angeles Writing Project. As an educator, he has been honored with the Los Angeles Music Center’s BRAVO Award, which recognizes teachers for innovation and excellence in arts education.