ARMENIAN TALES

	By SHUSHAN AVAGYAN


	And she answered,
	Memory is the paper that cannot be erased
	by erasing.--Diana Der-Hovanessian, from The Riddle, 1994

	This is a true story she says
	stepping up to the lectern slowly
	each step bearing ninety seven years of weight.
	The audience (cough) at once black crows
	signing to each other (cough) (cough) we walked
	at night we hid at dawn buried
	(cough) ourselves under the sand not to be found
	by the gendarmes (cough) she is almost blind
	behind the thick lens--that night we lost two
	girls Manush (cough) eleven and (cough) Zabel
	(cough) their bodies hanging (cough) (cough)
	each morn(cough)ing above my bed, their
	ton(cough)gues ripped out, (cough)
	their hair burn(cough)t. 


--
Shushan Avagyan was born in Yerevan, Armenia.  She is currently
working on her doctoral degree in English Studies, and is a
recipient of the Dalkey Archive Press fellowship at the Illinois
State University.