David Kherdian
Long after leaving the neighborhood,
first on the road, before the draft
into Kentucky army barracks,
then to Mt. Fuji and mountain maneuvers
with other drafted recruits
desperate with longing for home—
Until Aunt Helen’s packages began
to arrive, regular as duty,
to be shared with others on
long guard duty nights.
Then I began to write, answering
letters from home, a former girlfriend
also on duty, her own:
who would never know what she had
awakened in me, and from which lifetime,
nor could I have guessed then how it would end.
David Kherdian is the author of 69 books: poetry, novels, biographies, memoirs, anthologies, bibliographies, retellings, translations, and children’s books (many illustrated by his Caldecott award winning wife, Nonny Hogrogian), which include a narrative biography of the Buddha, a retelling of the Asian classic Monkey,10 poetry anthologies, including his major groundbreaking anthology: Settling America: Fourteen Ethnic American Poets; Forgotten Bread: Armenian American Writers of the First Generation. His biography of his mother’s childhood and survival of the Armenian genocide, The Road From Home, was a Newbery Honor book, among other awards and prizes, and was nominated for the American Book Award. Kherdian’s forthcoming book is titled, Gatherings: From the Selected Writings of David Kherdian.
