by Shahé Mankerian
TODAY, April 24, Armenians all around the world will march for justice. For 90 years, the government of Turkey has denied the crimes it has committed on the Armenians in 1915. The have often used the following statement to justify their denial: “A claim without an owner is not a valid claim.” -SM
“A claim without an owner is not a valid claim,”
A dog without an owner is not a valid dog.
A god without a son is not a valid god.
A liar without America is not a valid liar.
A turkey without a valid gobble-gobble is not a turkey.
A puppet without a protruding nose is not a Pinocchio.
A map without bloody borders is not a valid map.
Thus,
A country without its mountain it’s not a valid country.
Shahé Mankerian spent his formative years in Beirut, Lebanon. He migrated to Los Angeles in 1979. He received his graduate degree in English from California State University, Los Angeles in 2000. Los Angeles Poetry Festival recognized him as one of the newer voices of 2001. In 2002, he was featured as a guest poet on Inspiration House with Peter Harris on KPFK. 2003 was a busy year for Shahé. He won both Erika Mumford Prize and Daniel Varoujan Award from the New England Poetry Club. Writers at Work selected one of his poems for the Common Prayers project. In the summer of 2004, he was a recipient of a writing grant from the Los Angeles Writer’s Project. Recently, Edifice Wrecked nominated Mankerian’s poem “She’s Hiding My Keys” for the 2004 Pushcart Prize.