Today marks the release day of Shahe Mankerian's debut poetry collection, History of Forgetfulness. History of Forgetfulness is a critically-acclaimed collection of powerful, unflinching poetry centred on exploring the Lebanese civil war.
Based in Beirut in 1975, much of the power of History of Forgetfulness's power lies in the personal details: the children hiding in the trees from snipers, the sound of Mozart tangled with the terrible racket of firearms.
Mankerian's use of dark humour only serves to further unsettle readers, immersing them in the landscapes of lovers caressing dead lovers, and worlds that are blown apart outside of the kitchen window.
Read a sample poem here:
Like Eliot’s Prufrock
Like a slab of meat etherized upon a table,
she felt obligated to clean her fiancé. A nurse
pulled the curtain and left her alone with a limp
rag in a bedpan full of warm, lathery water.
From the unfurnished apartment to the ambulance,
she used her unfitted wedding gown to wrap
his punctured belly with shrapnel shells.
The doctors cut the dress like a gauze. She dabbed
his foaming mouth with the veil. They didn’t have
a balcony anymore. Torn pages from his dissertation
covered a pool of blood. Soap residue stained
his torso, the floor tiles, his diaphragm.