Two Books of Poetry by Helene Pilibosian Published Posthumously

that I am from the East,

my features proof of this.

But often I speak more like

a person of the West

an independent gal

who cultivates her niche.

She eventually returns to her native Boston, only to observe the chaos of the Boston Marathon bombing in “Clam Chowder Manners”:

But I forgot clam chowder manners

on Boylston street that day

when the marathon exploded.

My memory has dulled

around the edges of the names.

In Planet Tome Reborn, Helene Pilibosian continues her sci-fi poetry tale from her previous book, A New Orchid Myth, in which the Everydream family, Amethyst, Granite, and daughter Taralee, come to Earth from the planet Tome to start a new life in New York City. In this sequel, the Everydreams are in Boston, a grown Taralee meets Ted, whom she later marries, and Granite advises people on Tome to prepare to start a business that grinds sunflower seeds into a powder for bread in anticipation of human immigration. The story is told in a highly metaphorical, surreal way, with an obvious love of art often expressed through clever rhymes, as in “After The Dinner Table”:

Green window-sheen

as I perceive red walls.

Black-slack for the servant’s blouse.

The chimes of color evolve

in Matisse’s Fauve.

Flat perspectives drive

my mind’s pith and rind.

Both books are available through Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle versions.

Pilibosian’s poems have appeared in many American and Armenian literary journals and anthologies in the US and abroad. Some of her poems were finalists in literary competitions or won first prizes and honorable mentions. Her early work has been cited in the Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature.

Ohan Press, a private bilingual micropress, has published 14 books of both prose and poetry, including Helene’s autobiography My Literary Profile: A Memoir, awarded honorable mention by the New England Book Festival.