A Voice Says

Evita Arakelian

A voice says: ‘You were made for leaving, un-

cleaving, made for weaving way-worn arias out

of chaos. A window, cracked, thirsting for the sun;

pumped full of walls, facing the finality of soot-

sullied bricks.’ A voice says: ‘You were left,

like almond shavings, orange peelings in an empty

cake box, bitter, sour, not even pretty,

the scatterings of children, desperate

only for vanilla sweetness.’ A voice says: ‘Hide

your skin, your hair, your mouth, your eyes!

Hide them behind crayoned features and cheap glue!’,

says it gently, makes it sound like singing, whispering;

its swinging rhythm falls against you like a warning.

You know you should not listen but you do. Do you?

Evita Arakelian has had her poetry published in several literary journals, including 'Off The Coast', 'Sparks of Calliope', 'Grand Little Things', 'WestWord Quarterly', 'Pulp Poets Press', and 'A New Ulster'. Her poem 'The Memory of a Star' has been nominated for the 2022 Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net Anthology. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Creative Writing, and working on her debut poetry collection. She has moderated a number of Creative Writing workshops in Yerevan, and performed her poetry in numerous venues, winning the 'Square Performer of the Year' accolade for the performance of her poetry in the 2023 'One Square Meter' festival hosted by the Armenian Center for Creative and Experimental Art.