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Friday, April 08, 2011

Ghosts and Whispers by Krikor Der Hohannesian



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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