to be a writer

[arabaliozian]

TO BE A WRITER
******************************
To be a writer
and to be condemned not to write
a single honest line:
the condition of our academics.
*
You may have noticed that
when they speak,
our whistle-blowers lower their voices
instead of raising them.
*
“You are not an Armenian writer,”
I am reminded once in a whistle.
“You are a Canadian writer!”
“Because I write in Canadian?”
*
Once upon a time
world literature was conducted in Greek,
then in Latin. then in French, and now in English.
The best-known Armenian writer today is Saroyan.
All others might as well be faceless, nameless nonentities.
*
Times change, perceptions and standrards change too.
Only one thing remains constant:
the mediocrity of our leadership.
*
We deserve our enemies.
As for our friends:
Do we have them?
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