MY OWN

	By Beverly Honkonen


	`It is yours,'
	I said.
	`Yes, it is mine,'
	you agreed.
	Your belly will grow
	and I will read poetry
	to your swelling, pink flesh.
	I will nurture you
	with Hayastan food.
	We will be as one.
	.................... silence
	`It is yours,'
	I cried.
	`No, it is not,'
	you muttered.
	.................... nothing.


--
My name is Beverly Honkonen and I recently found out that my family's
name was originally spelled Hankanian several generations ago, but was
changed when they immigrated to America from Russia. I think this
makes me Armenian, and since discovering this information, I have been
researching my new-found heritage. I am a high school English teacher
in a suburb outside of Cleveland, Ohio. I am also a graduate student
at Cleveland State University, enrolled in the Master's of English
Literature Program, and have been writing poetry since I was a child.