THE MONK

	By Lusine Haroyan


	In his monastic veil 
	he seemed to be a black walking mountain. 
	He was serious and used to sleep on a pallet. 
	He didn't like this-worldly noises 
	and ran away from crowds. 
	He adored pantomime. 

	...Once I opened my palm 
	and asked him to tell my future. 
	He took my hand and drew to his lips. 
	His look was mysterious and elegiac: 
	`I am not a prophet,' he whispered. 

	His baritone echoed in the silence of the church.
	He was profoundly religious and erotic.


--
Lusine Haroyan was born in Ararat, Armenia. As an exchange student,
she studied in the faculty of Political Science at Bemidji State
University, Minnesota. She graduated from the Brussov State Linguistic
University in Yerevan, Armenia.
Lusine has published two books of poetry `Let the Flowers Bloom,' 1996
and `The Legend of Stones,' 2000. Her third collection of poetry `A
Drop of Blood on the Slide of a Microscope' will be published soon.
She is the winner of `Avedic Isahakyan Award' in 1998), the `Armenian
Cultural Fund Award' in 1999, the Armenian Allied Arts Association
Award in 2000 and 2002, and the `Best Student Poet Award' (Third
Prize) in 2002.
Lusine's poetry has also been published in a variety of anthologies,
such as `Minnesota Women Writers,' in 2000, `Dust & Fire' Minnesota
Writers Anthology, in 2001, `Best Student Poets in Armenia,' in 2002.
Lusine is currently working at the `Tatev Scientific Educational
Complex' in Yerevan, Armenia, and in September she will be leaving for
Budapest, Hungary, to study for her Master's Degree at Central
European University (faculty of International Relations). She can be
reached at lharoyan@yahoo.com