ANNA KHACHATRYAN
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Still Here!  105 Years after the Armenian Genocide...

4/24/2020

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PictureArmenian Genocide Memorial in light in Yerevan, Armenia, 04/24/2020.
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Today, Armenians worldwide commemorate the 1.5 million innocent lives lost in the Armenian Genocide of 1915 - 1921.  

105 years ago, under the guise of WWI, Ottoman Turks carried out a meticulously planned genocide of Armenians.  1.5 million Armenians were ruthlessly killed and forced out of their ancestral homes.  This is the reason why Armenians are now spread all around the world, they are the children and grandchildren of the survivors.  The Ottoman Turk's plan was to completely annihilate Armenians, wiping all of them off the face of he Earth. But that plan failed...  And just like our monuments and our mountains we stand strong and tall.  We continue to live, prosper, and create!  We were here from the beginning of time (more than 5000years) and will still be here till the end of time.  We will keep the memory of our ancestors alive, and we will always tell their stories...

To this day Turkey practices an active denial of the Armenian Genocide through political lobbying, changing and falsifying historical documents, destroying any evidence they can, and when needed with simple brut force and threats.  However, the survivors and the eye witness testimonies speak the truth.  The truth cannot be shackled or buried or silenced...
Their lies and denial is hindering forgiveness and healing.  It's time to recognize the truth, learn from past mistakes and move forward.
​I will always stand for the truth, I will always keep the memory of my fallen ancestors alive, and I will continue telling their stories...

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An excerpt from my poem titled "Armenians"
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What to do in a Crisis...

4/10/2020

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It is easy to panic, get carried away with things and to concentrate only on the self during times of crisis.  However, it is exactly during times of crisis that we need to remain understanding and kind.  Show compassion to each other and let the best aspects of humanity shine through.  This phrase may be trite, but indeed "No man is an island." 
Stay safe, stay healthy, stay kind...

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Some of my Haiku:

2/4/2020

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Why Haiku?

1/15/2020

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Many people ask why I write in Haiku or why I love Haiku so much.  To answer these questions I would like to briefly introduce Haiku - this Japanese style of short verse, and then give my reasons.  

Brief history of Haiku...
A traditional Japanese haiku is a three-line poem with seventeen syllables, written in a 5/7/5 syllable count. Often focusing on images from nature, haiku emphasizes simplicity, intensity, and directness of expression.
Haiku began in thirteenth-century Japan as the opening phrase of renga, an oral poem, generally 100 stanzas long, which was also composed syllabically. The much shorter haiku broke away from renga in the sixteenth-century, and was mastered a century later by Matsuo Basho, who wrote this classic haiku:

An old pond!
A frog jumps in--
the sound of water.

Haiku was traditionally written in the present tense and focused on associations between images. There was a pause at the end of the first or second line, and a "season word," or ​
kigo,​ specified the time of year. As the form has evolved, many of these rules—including the 5/7/5 practice—have been routinely broken. However, the philosophy of haiku has been preserved: the focus on a brief moment in time; a use of provocative, colorful images; an ability to be read in one breath; and a sense of sudden enlightenment and illumination. 

Why Haiku?
As a writer, I compose short stories and poetry. However, I find poetry closer to my heart, sometimes a better way of expressing and communicating my thoughts and emotions.  At times I may have a brief flash of an idea or a thought that can only be captured in a poem.  And at times those thoughts are incomplete and can only be expressed in sort verse or haiku. This is true to emotions as well. Certain feelings are transient and can only be captured in short writings, in my case a haiku.  I love the fact that haiku allows the writer to express flashes of thought and emotion without having to elaborate in an explanation.   To me haiku is a form of poetry which captures the essence of a specific moment in time, and that is exactly what I aim to do through my poetry.  
I will share some of my writings and poetry with you through this blog page.  So, stay tuned!

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    Anna Khachatryan
    an Educator...  
    ​a Writer...
    a Coffee drinker...
    &  a Nature lover...

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