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Hye Sharzhoom
November 1986
Poetry
Peter Balakian was born in 1951 in Teaneck, New Jersey, and grew up there and in
the neighboring town of Tenafly. He holds a B A. degree from Bucknell University
and a Ph. D.from Brown University. He is currently assistant professor of English at
Colgate University.
Balakian is the author of two books of poems. Father Fisheye (1979) and Sad
Days of Light (1983). His poems, essays, and reviews have been published widely in
such magazines as Poetry, The Nation, American Literature, and American Book
Review. In 1976 he co-founded Graham House Review, & semi-annual journal of
contemporary poetry, essays, and interviews, which he co-edits with Bruce Smith.
Peter Balakian was a guest of the Armenian Studies Program and the Armenian
Students Organization in March 1986. This newest poem is from a forthcoming
book, Future Herbalist.
FLAME-VINE
in the humid January of central Florida
the five points of each flower
curl back to the mouth
so the pistills hang out like scorched tongues.
Pyrostegia: their Greek name-
meaning fire and roof,
because fire burns the roof
of the mouth
because fire grows over
the roof of a house
the way these dangling orange mouths
annihilate trees, shrubs, fences,
even the squat water-oak.
Although I am sitting near some
tennis courts
in this torpid part of America,
I keep watching the mouths
and climbing tendrils
and see the pistils
c almost fall to the ground
' as if they were dangling by one
nerve-thread at the base of each flower's neck
± neck's of orange, mouths of fire
spilling from green leaflets
as if they have been screaming for centuries:
goat-lung, lamb-nuts, pomegranate-
mouth Armenia spill
like after-birth out of me.
^^———^%^\*m——■—■rfP>^^^——^^^^J%^\\m ■ i
More Books
Archie Minasian, Selected Poems, with
an Introduction by William Saroyan and
an Afterward by Aram Saroyan, New
York: Ashod Press, P.O. Box 1147, Madison Square Station, New York, NY 10157,
1986. 64 pages. $5.50.
Did William Saroyan's meteoric success
make it difficult for other members of his
family to gain fame? Some have suggested
that in the forties and fifties there was not
enough room for more than one Armenian
writer from the extended Saroyan clan to
make it big in American letters. Archie
Minasian, Saroyan's younger first cousin,
who died last November, is a case in point.
Sharing Saroyan's lust for the varied
experiences of life and his interests in
letters and the arts, Minasian turnedwriter
(both prose and poetry) and painter at a
young age. Unlike Saroyan he finished
high school and went to Fresno State
before moving to San Francisco. In fairness to his famous cousin, it should be said
that Saroyan tried over and over again,
especially in his later years, to promote
Minasian's work and even got into several
angry exchanges with editors who refused
to publish Minasian's novel. He once
insisted that I write a letter to a mutual
friend to publish the novel without letting
Archie know about it.
The first part of this wonderous book
republishes for the third time Minasian's
now famous The Simple Songs of Khatchik
Minasian; originally issued by the Grab-
horn Press in 1950 with Saroyan's introduction. The elegant little volume was
Archie Minassian
reprinted by David Kherdian in 1969. The
elder Saroyan's rambling and at times
enigmatic introduction is balanced in the
book at hand by the junior Saroyan's
analytical appreciation of Minasian's craft.
Minasian's extremely sensitive poems have
been compared to Japanese Haiku. But
the power behind a few simple words of
Minasian is much stronger than the often
bucolic sentiments of Haiku. A fine example is an elegy written for his cousin in
1981, entitled Farewell to Willie:
The birds are in his trees
among the leaves
feeding on the early plum and peach.
Soon they will be off
in the morning sky
and he will be with them.
For those who are not poetry fans or'
who have never read poetry, this is the
book to start with.
DK
i
More Books
VahaknN. Dadrian, 'TheNairn-Andonian
Documents on the World War I Destruction of Ottoman Armenians: The Anatomy
of a Genocide,' International Journal of
Middle East Studies, vol. 18, no.3, August
1986, pp. 311-360. Offprints available
from the author, Department of Sociology,
State university of New York, Geneseo,
N. Y. 14454 or the Zoryan Institute.
Professor Dadrian's article answers once
and for all critics who suggest that the
famous coded telegrams sent by Talaat L
Pasha and the Young Turk government to
initiate and carry out the Armenian Genocide o/ 1915 are forgeries. In a carefully
prepared and documented study reinforced
by 113 footnotes and two tables, Dadrian
examines the 52 known telegrams sent by
Talaat and other Turkish officials from
March 3, 1915 to February 27, 1918 to
carry out the expulsion and extermination
of the Armenian population in the eastern
provinces of the Ottoman Empire.
The strength of Dadrian's study is its
strong reliance on Turkish sources. The
documentation is so overwhelming that
further Turkish statements questioning
the telegrams'authenticity will be hard to
make credible to even the most pro-
Turkish scholars. Dadrian's scholarship
should encourage Armenians to put more
resources into organizations and individuals who are competent to pursue research on questions of our most recent
past. With more studies of this kind
published in journals, which like 1JMES
are received by thousands of Middle Eastern scholars and experts, Armenian will
be able to confront the Turkish lie with the
Armenian truth. The merit of the article
Dadrian's scholarship
should encourage
Armenians
lies not just in restoring these telegrams (in
part used by the Berlin court that tried and
released Soghomon Tehlirian) to their
proper place as documents, but also in its
unrelenting exposure of the entire, carefully conceived, Turkish plan of exterminating the Armenians.
DK
SUPPORT
HYE SHARZHOOM
LOCUS
New UCLA Journal
Spring 1986 marked the first issue of the
UCLA Armenian Student Association
journal Locus.
Edited by Ara Oshagan the handsomely
printed journal contains articles in Armenian and English. Its purpose is 'an
attempt to provide a free intellectual and
artistic forum for reflections by Armenian
and non-Armenian students on the Armenian Diaspora.'
Touching on a wide area of interests the
journal probes the emotions and thoughts
of Armenians living in the Diaspora.
Featured are an interview with noted
author and critic Vahe Oshagan, an article
on the state of contemporary art in the
Armenian Diaspora by Neery Melkonian-
Ourfalian, an analysis of one of the char-
aters in the Armenian oral epic David of
Sassoun by Rachel L. Stallkamp, and
several poems.
Those interested in submitting material
to- Locus may contact:
UCLA Armenian Student Association
Box #520
308 Westwood Plaza
Los Angeles, CA 90024.
Hye Sharzhoom welcomes this fresh
hew student voice of the Armenian Diaspora.
CMirfteS
w**0tmimm*m*i*m*mm
ESSAY CONTEST
The Armenian Students Organization is pleased to announce an essay
contest open to all college students. The first prize winner will receive $200.00
which has been contributed by a donor from New York.
The topic of the essay is:
How to resist assimilation?
The essay can be in Armenian or English, and must be typed, double spaced,
and be no less than three and no more than five pages long. The deadline for
essays to be received is December 31,1986. All submissions must be sent to:
ASO Essay Contest
c/o Armenian Studies Program
California State University, Fresno
Fresno, California 93740
The essays will be judged by a panel of the Armenian Students Organization
and the Armenian Studies Program. Winners will have their work published in
Hve Sharzhoom.
m
mmBBmmmmfmvmmmtmmmmm
m
l|ll|l,MI|l|IIIH.-«lWllMI|»
J
Object Description
| Title | 1986_11 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper November 1986 |
| Alternative Title | Armenian Action, Vol. 8 No. 1, November 1986; Ethnic Supplement to the Collegian. |
| Publisher | Armenian Studies Program, California State University, Fresno. |
| Publication Date | 1986 |
| Description | Published two to four times a year. The newspaper of the California State University, Fresno Armenian Students Organization and Armenian Studies Program. |
| Subject | California State University, Fresno – Periodicals. |
| Contributors | Armenian Studies Program; Armenian Students Organization, California State University, Fresno. |
| Coverage | 1979-2014 |
| Format | Newspaper print |
| Language | eng |
| Full-Text-Search | Scanned at 200-360 dpi, 18-bit greyscale - 24-bit color, TIFF or PDF. PDFs were converted to TIF using Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro. |
Description
| Title | November 1986 Page 6 |
| Full-Text-Search | Page 6 Hye Sharzhoom November 1986 Poetry Peter Balakian was born in 1951 in Teaneck, New Jersey, and grew up there and in the neighboring town of Tenafly. He holds a B A. degree from Bucknell University and a Ph. D.from Brown University. He is currently assistant professor of English at Colgate University. Balakian is the author of two books of poems. Father Fisheye (1979) and Sad Days of Light (1983). His poems, essays, and reviews have been published widely in such magazines as Poetry, The Nation, American Literature, and American Book Review. In 1976 he co-founded Graham House Review, & semi-annual journal of contemporary poetry, essays, and interviews, which he co-edits with Bruce Smith. Peter Balakian was a guest of the Armenian Studies Program and the Armenian Students Organization in March 1986. This newest poem is from a forthcoming book, Future Herbalist. FLAME-VINE in the humid January of central Florida the five points of each flower curl back to the mouth so the pistills hang out like scorched tongues. Pyrostegia: their Greek name- meaning fire and roof, because fire burns the roof of the mouth because fire grows over the roof of a house the way these dangling orange mouths annihilate trees, shrubs, fences, even the squat water-oak. Although I am sitting near some tennis courts in this torpid part of America, I keep watching the mouths and climbing tendrils and see the pistils c almost fall to the ground ' as if they were dangling by one nerve-thread at the base of each flower's neck ± neck's of orange, mouths of fire spilling from green leaflets as if they have been screaming for centuries: goat-lung, lamb-nuts, pomegranate- mouth Armenia spill like after-birth out of me. ^^———^%^\*m——■—■rfP>^^^——^^^^J%^\\m ■ i More Books Archie Minasian, Selected Poems, with an Introduction by William Saroyan and an Afterward by Aram Saroyan, New York: Ashod Press, P.O. Box 1147, Madison Square Station, New York, NY 10157, 1986. 64 pages. $5.50. Did William Saroyan's meteoric success make it difficult for other members of his family to gain fame? Some have suggested that in the forties and fifties there was not enough room for more than one Armenian writer from the extended Saroyan clan to make it big in American letters. Archie Minasian, Saroyan's younger first cousin, who died last November, is a case in point. Sharing Saroyan's lust for the varied experiences of life and his interests in letters and the arts, Minasian turnedwriter (both prose and poetry) and painter at a young age. Unlike Saroyan he finished high school and went to Fresno State before moving to San Francisco. In fairness to his famous cousin, it should be said that Saroyan tried over and over again, especially in his later years, to promote Minasian's work and even got into several angry exchanges with editors who refused to publish Minasian's novel. He once insisted that I write a letter to a mutual friend to publish the novel without letting Archie know about it. The first part of this wonderous book republishes for the third time Minasian's now famous The Simple Songs of Khatchik Minasian; originally issued by the Grab- horn Press in 1950 with Saroyan's introduction. The elegant little volume was Archie Minassian reprinted by David Kherdian in 1969. The elder Saroyan's rambling and at times enigmatic introduction is balanced in the book at hand by the junior Saroyan's analytical appreciation of Minasian's craft. Minasian's extremely sensitive poems have been compared to Japanese Haiku. But the power behind a few simple words of Minasian is much stronger than the often bucolic sentiments of Haiku. A fine example is an elegy written for his cousin in 1981, entitled Farewell to Willie: The birds are in his trees among the leaves feeding on the early plum and peach. Soon they will be off in the morning sky and he will be with them. For those who are not poetry fans or' who have never read poetry, this is the book to start with. DK i More Books VahaknN. Dadrian, 'TheNairn-Andonian Documents on the World War I Destruction of Ottoman Armenians: The Anatomy of a Genocide,' International Journal of Middle East Studies, vol. 18, no.3, August 1986, pp. 311-360. Offprints available from the author, Department of Sociology, State university of New York, Geneseo, N. Y. 14454 or the Zoryan Institute. Professor Dadrian's article answers once and for all critics who suggest that the famous coded telegrams sent by Talaat L Pasha and the Young Turk government to initiate and carry out the Armenian Genocide o/ 1915 are forgeries. In a carefully prepared and documented study reinforced by 113 footnotes and two tables, Dadrian examines the 52 known telegrams sent by Talaat and other Turkish officials from March 3, 1915 to February 27, 1918 to carry out the expulsion and extermination of the Armenian population in the eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire. The strength of Dadrian's study is its strong reliance on Turkish sources. The documentation is so overwhelming that further Turkish statements questioning the telegrams'authenticity will be hard to make credible to even the most pro- Turkish scholars. Dadrian's scholarship should encourage Armenians to put more resources into organizations and individuals who are competent to pursue research on questions of our most recent past. With more studies of this kind published in journals, which like 1JMES are received by thousands of Middle Eastern scholars and experts, Armenian will be able to confront the Turkish lie with the Armenian truth. The merit of the article Dadrian's scholarship should encourage Armenians lies not just in restoring these telegrams (in part used by the Berlin court that tried and released Soghomon Tehlirian) to their proper place as documents, but also in its unrelenting exposure of the entire, carefully conceived, Turkish plan of exterminating the Armenians. DK SUPPORT HYE SHARZHOOM LOCUS New UCLA Journal Spring 1986 marked the first issue of the UCLA Armenian Student Association journal Locus. Edited by Ara Oshagan the handsomely printed journal contains articles in Armenian and English. Its purpose is 'an attempt to provide a free intellectual and artistic forum for reflections by Armenian and non-Armenian students on the Armenian Diaspora.' Touching on a wide area of interests the journal probes the emotions and thoughts of Armenians living in the Diaspora. Featured are an interview with noted author and critic Vahe Oshagan, an article on the state of contemporary art in the Armenian Diaspora by Neery Melkonian- Ourfalian, an analysis of one of the char- aters in the Armenian oral epic David of Sassoun by Rachel L. Stallkamp, and several poems. Those interested in submitting material to- Locus may contact: UCLA Armenian Student Association Box #520 308 Westwood Plaza Los Angeles, CA 90024. Hye Sharzhoom welcomes this fresh hew student voice of the Armenian Diaspora. CMirfteS w**0tmimm*m*i*m*mm ESSAY CONTEST The Armenian Students Organization is pleased to announce an essay contest open to all college students. The first prize winner will receive $200.00 which has been contributed by a donor from New York. The topic of the essay is: How to resist assimilation? The essay can be in Armenian or English, and must be typed, double spaced, and be no less than three and no more than five pages long. The deadline for essays to be received is December 31,1986. All submissions must be sent to: ASO Essay Contest c/o Armenian Studies Program California State University, Fresno Fresno, California 93740 The essays will be judged by a panel of the Armenian Students Organization and the Armenian Studies Program. Winners will have their work published in Hve Sharzhoom. m mmBBmmmmfmvmmmtmmmmm m l|ll|l,MI|l|IIIH.-«lWllMI|» J |
