Friday, December 4, 2020
The Music of Her Childhood
Falling asleep last night, Marash Girl remembered the music of her childhood, the clicking roll of the dice, the slam of the backgammon (tavlu) pieces (black though slightly worn, or cream colored, depending on the players' preference), the rhythms that nightly rocked her into slumber.
"Juarah du!"
"Du shesh!"
"Du barah!"
"Shesh besh!"
The memory, albeit everpresent, was brought to the fore by Marash Girl's reading of the book of poetry now in print for the first time: FIRST GENERATION, Poetic Memories, written by Krikor Der Hohannesian, published by Dos Madres Press.
A must read, from Marash Girl's perspective.
To order a signed copy of FIRST GENERATION, Krikor Der Hohannesian's newly published book of poetry, email the poet at krikorndh@verizon.net or order from the poet at the address below:
Krikor N. Der Hohannesian
31 Boston Avenue
Medford, MA 02155-6721
The cost of the book is $22.00 which includes shipping and handling.
Enjoy!
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Probably a different set of recollections to be refreshed from my southern farm girlhood - my grandmother was a demon checkers player - no backgammon or mahjong, tho. The adults played bridge, which I still don't like. As we got older, we were taught a simple pre-bridge, called Rook. Monopoly became a big hit, too, and a card game "Authors" that my schoolteacher mom approved of.
ReplyDeleteWe six kids loved Monopoly, and often had a game going in the middle of the living room floor for the full 10 days of Christmas vacation!
DeleteYou, Bethel, in my opinion are a special author and sometimes, as well, a special poet. Gail . . . Xxooo
ReplyDeleteYou must translate “Juarah du, Du shesh, Du barrah, Shesh Besh..."I can remember my father saying that when he was playing tavlu.
ReplyDeleteThe sounds of the Armenian language, though I never learned to speak it…are now such sweet memories in my ear.
The numbers that are called out are called out in ancient Persian.... and the backgammon game itself is considered to have most likely originated in ancient Persia.
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