Ghosts and Whispers
Krikor Der Hohannesian
Finishing Line Press
ISBN 978-1-59924-620-8
2010 $14.00
“...From the refuge
of America, it is left to you
to hold those birthplaces with
strange names, to pass on the tales
of those whose histories survive
only as faces in grainy sepia or a gold
ring engraved with a name, a date...”
A long time coming, 'Ghosts and Whispers,' is the culmination of many years
of publishing in various magazines; his poems are now in one book; this
chapbook by Krikor graces our minds with his profound implications,
poetry written from those hidden places, brought to light, they dare line
dance across the pages. The poems are cohesive, interspersed recollections
and historical truths:
“...With no forewarning
it sneaks through a side door
in any number of disguises
a nod
a touch
a word
a sidelong look
weighty silences
and yes, sometimes,
even a smile
wry at the edges,
sly in the knowing.”
Der Hohannesian manages the present tense with the past tense in ways
that captures the readers attention and preserves recognition. The poems
impart, “the honed stick is transformed-bone white, smooth as a sliver” he
regales us with portraits of people and place:
“What do you do
with the ghosts of melancholy
that lurked in dark, dusty niches?
What do you do
with lies that lay hidden
like a smoldering peat bog?
What do you do
with a thirst for what was lost
hanging like beads of fog on the skin”
What do you do
with the weight of the unspeakable,
the grief which you could not lift?
These tears I shed,
that fall on your headstones
under the weeping willow,
these tears are for you.
Irene Koronas
Poetry Editor:
Wilderness House Literary Review
Reviewer:
Ibbetson Street Press
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