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The Literary Groong - 01/17/2004

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	HORSES ON THE ROOF

	By Diana Der Hovanessian

	My father in a storm
	of pigeons
	in San Marco's Aquare
	points up,
	"Now look at those
	horses well." His words
	bring back Browning's
	Last Duchess.

	"They'er yours,"
	he says,
	"They came with
	Tiridates to Italy
	in Nero's day
	overland, not
	to pollute the sea.
	Perfect symbols
	of our craft.
	They blend bronze
	with our tales
	of fiery steeds.

	"On such a beast
	Sanasar flew
	into the sun.
	Just how these four
	were planted
	on this roof
	is a mystery
	to all except tourists
	with Armenian blood."

	We move in for a closer
	view of horses
	that can be seen
	only fro far away.

	Copyright © 2003 Diana Der Hovanessian

--
Diana Der Hovanessian is a Fulbright professor of American literature
at Yerevan State University in 1994 and 1999, she is author of 17
books and has published in American Scholar, Poetry, Harvard Review,
Nation, Paris Review, New Republic, and her poetry is regularly
published in the Christian Science Monitor. She has awards from the
Columbia Translation Center, P.E.N., Writers Union of America, and the
Writers Union of Armenia.

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