Leonardo P. Alishan
Leonardo P. Alishan (1951-2005) was born of Armenian parents in Tehran, Iran. He came to the United States for graduate studies in 1973. He taught Persian literature and comparative literature at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City from 1978-1997. During his life he published two collections of poetry, Dancing Barefoot on Broken Glass (1991) and Through A Dewdrop (2000). His poems and short stories have been published in a variety of anthologies and journals, and he was the recipient of a number of literary awards, including the Academy of American Poets award, the Christopher Morely Poetry Award, the Anne Irving Writing Award, and Atlanta Review’s International Merit Award.
Acknowledgements
Editor’s Introduction:Leonardo Paul Alishan’s Shadow:A Biographical Introduction
PART I.PRETENDING NOT TO BE AFRAID
calm evening lake
clouds responding
skating on the mirror
up to its non-existent knees
A yellow jacket wasp
green green, yellow green
scattered yellow leavesin the cool of the evening
seabirds and crustaceans
cracking the shell of the crab
a majestic tortoise shell
in lamentation or in joy
the sparrow
the heron
I watch the bird hop
a spider
a ladybug’s weight
I let the butterfly out the window
if I could’ve fallen asleep
water swallows light
The wounded zebra kicked the lioness
glittering in the headlights
new flowers sprouting
all flowers fade
trees standing in the flood
the dandelion tries
looking at his feet
the beggar
in underdeveloped countries
Who but man
A grenade thrown into
Glaring into the eyes
supreme democracy of death
children
PART II. TIRED THOUGHTS
Inescapable
Difficulty of Being
Hereditary Disease
Tired Thoughts
Maslakh
Trojan Dirge
Dear Dr. Frankenstein
Pietá
Military Contractors
Apocalyptic
so many
when the true revolution comes
in the heart of the war zone
A Funeral of Sounds
Extinguished Suns
of all the holidays
Uniformity
someone’s screaming
more cruel
Lament for a Persian Boy Who Comes and Goes
Under Different Names and Different Moons
Every Day A Memorial Day
Every soldier learns
Biblical Reincarnations
Reincarnations
PART III. APRIL, SINCE 1915
the crucifix around Granny’s neck
Heavenly Creatures of Hell
Granny by the Lethe
April, Since 1915
Perpetual Death and Resurrection
Wandering Armenian Prayer
Song of Bread
Children of the Desert
PART IV. NOWHERELAND
To An American Friend Who Loves Persian Poetry
Longings of the Larynx
Dead Man’s Shadow
first twenty-two years
Armiran
Love Song for Iran
Paradise Lost
Isfahan: Ode and Elegy
New Julfa, Isfahan
I.D.
Atrophy
Forty Years of Wandering
Remembrances
My Brother and My Dreams
The Expedition
Song of the Vagabond
The Migratory Swimmer
Exilic
in exile I learned
Expatriated Persian
I Saw Susa
how could a people
Medieval Renaissance
Partying in Exile
Communion
A Brief History of a Kurdish Village
After all these years
My Side: An Open Letter
I’ve lived long enough
Stargazers
Regression
T’ang Thoughts in Big Cottonwood Canyon
a dead duck on the road
Evocations In Exile
Adaptation
I have gone far beyond
Nowhereland
PART V.BIOSCHIZOPHRENIA
Heretic
Bioschizophrenia
The Odyssey of a Dream: Requiescant in pace
Caught Butterfly
Outside the funeral parlor
mom’s gone to church
The Sunflower’s Silence
The Story of My Soul
old blanket poxed
when I’m not looking
you never saw the fire
you can put out a cigar
The Few
so many dead stars
Afterword
By M. R. Ghanoonparvar