Poem by Silva Zanoyan Merjanian

Where truth Is Strewn

On the road to old city of Van
where Armenia once rose
in proximity of a ‘slowdown
children crossing’ sign
my jaw bone protrudes
from gravel and dust
sadistic hatred still serves
caravan of shallow mass grave

my papa’s skull cracked
his pleas convulsing stones
to spare his little girl
no dirge or mourners
nor mercy to cover
my pubescent limbs
my headstone’s but a scream
spotted with blood and tears
waking your docile night

here lies your conscience
packed in a scimitar sheath
where there is a ‘slowdown
children crossing’ sign
in a killing field
where strewn truth
slows to a stop

Silva Zanoyan Merjanian is an internationally published poet, she released her first volume in 2013 Uncoil a Night, donating all proceeds to civilians caught caught in middle of wars. She was invited to Fermoy, Ireland after being short listed on a competition to read and launch her book at the annual poetry festival.

Ira Joel Haber was born and lives in Brooklyn. He is a sculptor, painter, book dealer, photographer and teacher. His work has been seen in numerous group shows both in USA and Europe and he has had 9 one man shows including several retrospectives of his sculpture. His work is in the collections of The Whitney Museum Of American Art, New York University, The Guggenheim Museum, The Hirshhorn Museum and The Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Since 2007 His paintings, drawings, photographs and collages have been published in over 160 on line and print magazines. He has received three National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, two Pollock-Krasner grants, the Adolph Gottlieb Foundation grant and, in 2010, he received a grant from Artists’ Fellowship Inc. He currently teaches art to retired public school teachers at The United Federation of Teachers program in Brooklyn.