Clothesline written ‘In Synergy’ with “After the Ecstasy” by Caryn Gilbert
Mama hangs Father’s paisley pajamas
to dry on the sagging clothesline.
The basket next to her feet: bleached
boxers with permanent yellow stains,
a frayed undershirt, a cricket—
She squeezes a red clothespin,
draws blood, and replays the cluster
of images in the bedroom of her mind:
Father face down on the carpet—
a broken demitasse—the radio
blaring Beethoven’s Appassionata—
a distant thunder—she closes her eyes,
doesn’t notice the December clouds
or the dead dandelions along the toolshed.
Poet Shahé Mankerian is the principal of St. Gregory Hovsepian School. He is on the board of International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA). His inaugural poetry collection, History of Forgetfulness, was published by the Fly on the Wall Press in October of 2021.
