11/February/2022
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you see eyes, i seethis world: no eyes, all eyes
by: Perla Kantarjian

timer /
measuring tape /
calculator /
persecutor /
neck rope /
denominator /
pendulum /
hourglass /
all cerebral /
denotative /
mechanical /
not a tender bone /
the poets /
are wrong /
you see, in Armenian,
when someone looks at you too much,
your friend will say: ge tchapveyirgor—
you were being measured.
--
About the writer
I'm Perla Kantarjian, a Lebanese-Armenian who was based in Beirut until a few months ago when I was awarded the Sonny Mehta Scholarship for writers which enabled my MA studies in Creative Writing (Poetry) at the University of East Anglia. I'm a writer/journalist/editor with written works appearing in over 25 publications, including The Hellebore, Harpy Hybrid Review, International Literary Quarterly, and The Armenian Weekly. Formerly, I was executive editor of Carpe Diem, the literary segment of the prestigious Lebanese daily Annahar Newspaper. I'm also a member of Creative Armenia, Rusted Radishes, International Armenian Literary Alliance, and UEA New Writing Live. Recently, my poem "but I am only fiercely dreaming" was selected Editor's Choice by Panoply and nominated for a Pushcart; but my main highlight of the year is having my surrealist poem "Half Woman, Half Starlight" selected by the founder of the Lunar Codex project to be amongst the time capsule art collection which will be launched to the moon and archived on its surface in early 2022.