Oct 7, 2024
The Duduk
The sun not half full
but trying
shattered
in the river.
The rocks in the river
not half submerged
in the sun.
The river running through
arid mountain rocks
under the not half
full sun
submerged in the river.
Running through arid
mountain rocks
under the sun
the old man lifted
the duduk
to his lips
& began
to
cry.
][][
Notes:
I wrote a series of poems trying to capture my Peace Corps experience in Armenia way back in 2002 as part of my MFA thesis. This is one of them.
A duduk is a wooden, double-reed flute popular in Armenian music. It produces an otherworldly droning sound. When asked to describe it I wrote, "If mountains could cry it would sound like this."
