Mark Gavoor: Maqam choonim Մախամ Չունիմ

if…
i could only imagine it
i can’t even

an ideal, a concept,
a perfection i want
to improvise for you
better than any poem
better than any letter
better than any
mere word or melody

a taksim, a chant,
an older than old-school lament,
the good kind, that brings us to
a peace you so need and deserve

it’s there, etched in our souls
coded in our dna
i am not good enough
or worthy enough, not able,
to extract it and even less able
to play it…

it is there, i feel it
it is sweet
    but not too sweet
it is sad
    but not too sad
it is joyful
    but not very happy

in a maqam no one
has ever heard or played
but sounding so very
familiar

so very familiar…

Mark Gavoor is Associate Professor of Operations Management in the School of Business and Nonprofit Management at North Park University in Chicago. He is an avid blogger and oud player. This poem appeared in the Armenian Weekly on Oct 30, 2025