VIRGINIA

	by Kevork K. Kalayjian


	The realization of the loss
	made me feel hopelessly useless
	I was fearful, vulnerable, motionless,
	incapacitated by my inability 
	to move, to go, to leave!

	A sudden sense of primitive humanness
	assaulted into my existence, shaking,
	shattering, and ultimately reshaping
	all pre-learned notions of reality, and
	acceptable norms of behavior.

	There I was ready to use my arms,
	legs, and teeth to break into that locked 
	door, I was ready to scavenge any road-
	side dump to find a tool, which will help
	me open that metal and glass access ...

	In the middle of nowhere,
	on the side of a deserted road,
	in the State of Virginia, the engine
	was running, while the keys were
	on the ignition of my locked car!

	`Let me show you how it's done' said God, 
	he was dressed as a black man.


--
Kevork K. Kalayjian, Jr.  A graduate of the AGBU's Melkonian
Educational Institute, Nicosia, Cyprus, holds a B.A. in Political
Science and Economics from Fairleigh Dickinson University, Rutherford,
NJ, and a M. Ed.  Counseling Psychology, from William Paterson
University, Wayne, NJ. Kevork resides in NY with his wife Maral, and
three sons Aramazt, Tro, and Ohanes.