Sometimes Poetry is the Answer

On By zohrabcenterIn Zohrab Center Updates

Join us this Thursday evening, November 17 at the Zohrab Center at 7PM for another thoughtful, uplifting and therapeutic Evening of Poetry. 

Three noted American-Armenian poets will read from their works in English and Armenian.

lola_2012LOLA KOUNDAKJIAN enjoys her poetry diplomacy, touring the world to read at poetry festivals, and, promoting Armenian culture through the Armenian Poetry Project. This fall she is reading in three venues around New York City: in September as part of National Translation Month in the Inkwell series at the KGB Bar, a literary institution in the East Village neighborhood of New York City; in October, in the Americas Poetry Festival; and in November at the ZIC. She is the author of The Accidental Observer (2011 USA) and Advice to a Poet (2014 Peru; 2015 USA).

photo-1SHAHÉ MANKERIAN is the principal of St. Gregory Alfred and Marguerite 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. His poems have won Honorable Mentions in 2011 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award and Arts & Letters Journal of Contemporary Culture. Shahé was a Semi-Finalist for the Knightville Poetry Contest. He was the first place winner of 2012 “Black and White” anthology series from Outrider Press. His poems have been published in numerous literary magazines.

dana-walrathDANA WALRATH, a writer, artist and anthropologist, spent 2012-2013 as a Fulbright Scholar in Armenia where she completed her first book, Like Water on Stone a verse novel about the Armenian genocide of 1915, loosely based on the story of her grandmother. Her just released graphic memoir, Aliceheimer’s about life with her mother, Alice, before and during dementia, has been featured in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books and the Philadelphia Inquirer. 

2016-11-poetryevening-001Copies of the poets’ recent books will be available for sale. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A FLYER.

The Evening of Poetry will take place at the Diocese of the Armenian Church, 630 2nd Avenue, New York and begin at 7PM. All are welcome. Admission is $5. Students with ID are free.

A reception and conversation will follow.

For further information contact the Zohrab Center at zohrabcenter@armeniandiocese.org or (212) 686-0710.

2 thoughts on “Sometimes Poetry is the Answer”

  1. This Armenian lady poet, her name L. K, insulted me and told me you should remove Carnegie prize from the cover of you books.
    I gained The Carnegie Prize for poetry in spring 2009 for my poem “Inauguration day” … Very easy to find it in the net.
    I have 14 poetry books published in Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and many sites …
    My last poetry collection “Gomidas-Komitas, My Musical Saint “ of condensed 372 pages of verses and arts and the cover of the book painted by our famous painter, Meruzhan Khachatryan. The book is published in Yerevan by Tparan publishers in April 2016.

    Armenians should be proud of each other …not insulting each other …if we are true Christians and never get jealous… We should praise each other for their good job done to remain honest Armenians.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Thanks Giving Day and Thanksgiving Days

    Thanks for the day
    That you were born, blessed by parents of your own.

    Thanks for the days
    You were breastfed, cuddled cheerfully in Mother’s bed.

    Thanks for the day
    You went to school, learning to write on

    “THANKSGIVING DAYS”
    Thanks for the day
    You didn’t meet evil eyes, hands, hearts, unfriendly faith!

    Thanks for the day
    You had no pain to view the pearly sky, To hear the robins sing again.

    Thanks for the day
    You could wash self, asking no one to give you help.

    Thanks for the day
    Your soulful smile could suppress despair without remedial blare.

    Thanks for the day
    You didn’t mourn a prayer to spray sourness on hard days gone.

    Thanks for the day
    You met real friends creating joyful laughs, dedicating care.

    Thanks for the day
    You found your Love feeling joyfulness, birthing Love-Cells.

    Thanks for the day
    You didn’t see earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricane, engulfing homes,
    Crushing brains, carrying innocents on firing cranes.

    Thanks for the day
    You never saw crushed skulls, wept with Heartbreaking stories of unfair genocides*.
    Prayed not to hear . . . not to remember . . . not to scream!

    Thanks for today
    Let all pursue to create peace . . .
    Let it be your and everyone’s most praiseful creed.

    Thanks for the day
    You never saw crushed skulls, wept with
    Heartbreaking stories of unfair genocides*.
    Prayed not to hear . . . not to remember . . . not to scream!

    Sylva Portoian, MD, MSc, FRCP,MFCM, (UK)
    _______________

    *In my poetry collection,
    “A Poetic Soul Shined of Genocides” (2008)
    Including Armenian Genocide 1915-1923, and other genocides in the world.
    The real Armenian genocide began in 1064 (nearly a millennium ago),
    and is still being lawlessly denied by the genociders.

    Reply

  2. I congratulate all my friends for their poems …
    I have 14 poetry books published in Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and many sites …
    My last poetry collection “Gomidas-Komitas, My Musical Saint “ of condensed 372 pages of verses and arts and the cover of the book painted by our famous painter, Meruzhan Khachatryan. The book is published in Yerevan by Tparan publishers in April 2016.

    Armenians should be proud of each other …not insulting each other …if we are true Christians and never get jealous… We should praise each other for their good job done to remain honest Armenians.

    Thanks Giving Day and Thanksgiving Days

    Thanks for the day
    That you were born, blessed by parents of your own.

    Thanks for the days
    You were breastfed, cuddled cheerfully in Mother’s bed.

    Thanks for the day
    You went to school, learning to write on
    “THANKSGIVING DAYS”

    Thanks for the day
    You didn’t meet evil eyes, hands, hearts, unfriendly faith!

    Thanks for the day
    You had no pain to view the pearly sky, To hear the robins sing again.

    Thanks for the day
    You could wash self, asking no one to give you help.

    Thanks for the day
    Your soulful smile could suppress despair without remedial blare.

    Thanks for the day
    You didn’t mourn a prayer to spray sourness on hard days gone.

    Thanks for the day
    You met real friends creating joyful laughs, dedicating care.

    Thanks for the day
    You found your Love feeling joyfulness, birthing Love-Cells.

    Thanks for the day
    You didn’t see earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricane, engulfing homes,
    Crushing brains, carrying innocents on firing cranes.

    Thanks for the day
    You never saw crushed skulls, wept with Heartbreaking stories of unfair genocides*.
    Prayed not to hear . . . not to remember . . . not to scream!

    Thanks for today
    Let all pursue to create peace . . .
    Let it be your and everyone’s most praiseful creed.

    Sylva Portoian, MD, MSc, FRCP,MFCM, (UK)
    _______________

    *In my poetry collection, “A Poetic Soul Shined of Genocides” (2008)
    Including Armenian Genocide 1915-1923, and other genocides in the world.
    The real Armenian genocide began in 1064 (nearly a millennium ago),
    and is still being lawlessly denied by the genociders.

    Reply

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