A New Orchid Myth

by Helene Pilibosian

Overview

A New Orchid Myth presents poems of fantasy-reality and the possibility of a different kind of civilization on another planet from which Mr. and Mrs. Everydream descend to Earth. From New York City they travel within the states for a broader perspective. Sunflowers and orchids play an important part in this optimistic narrative. The sunflower seeds provide great nourishment here and in their home planet. Orchids also exist there but are wilted and becoming sterile as are the people. What is needed there is optimism, and the red on orchids seems to symbolize it. Eventually the Everydreams develop a plan to send it to the planet, thus saving it and themselves. Then forgiveness rules. Poems describe the best attributes of many of the states. For comic relief, the characters Plastic and Polyester appear occasionally as do Mr. and Mrs. Garmirian, Maral Laramian and Taralee.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781495409448
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	02/01/2014
Pages:	94
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.23(d)

About the Author

Helene Pilibosian was born in Boston, MA, to Armenian immigrant parents. She graduated from Harvard University with an ADA(bachelor equivalent) in humanities in 1960. In 1964, she became the first woman editor of The Armenian Mirror-Spectator and later co-editor.
She has operated Ohan Press since 1983 with the publication of her first book of poems Carvings from an Heirloom: Oral History Poems. She then published At Quarter Past Reality: New and Selected Poems, which won first prize from Writer's Digest and History's Twists: The Armenians, which won honorable mention there.
Her poems have been published in such magazines as North American Review, Weber: The Contemporary West, Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies, Poetry Salzburg and many others as well as anthologies. Some of her poems won prizes and others were finalists in literary competitions in journals such as NEW LETTERS.
They Called Me Mustafa: Memoir of an Immigrant was licensed by Alexander Street Press for an electronic database. My Literary Profile: A Memoir won an honorable mention from the New England Book Festival 2012. Her Ohan Press at http://home.comcast.net/~hsarkiss has published 10 books of which five are hers.

Editorial Reviews

2014-04-29
In this imagery-drenched collection of poetry, Pilibosian (My Literary Profile, 2010, etc.) uses verse to tell the fantastical tale of two extraterrestrials who come to Earth to start a new life together.They say if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere, but coming to the Big Apple from another town or country is one thing; Mr. and Mrs. Everydream, on the other hand, have come to the city from another world—the planet of Tome. As they build a life in the big city, they also travel throughout the United States and take in the sun-dappled orchards of California, the rush of the Colorado River, the Cajun jazz of the bayou, and the heat of the desert. However, the Everydreams worry that their daughter, also on Earth, will be taken from them, apparently to help bring life back to their home world. So, in a rather vague plot, the couple turns to the orchids that thrive on Earth in the hope that these flowers will revitalize the people of Tome. As she takes the struggle to succeed in America and applies it to sci-fi, Pilibosian showcases her talent for creating swirls of surreal imagery. One of the standout poems, "Where Was Everywhere?" has husband and wife descending to Earth in silver parachutes as New York's ultimate immigrants: "They swore allegiance to symphony / to prove their patriotism / and tried to fathom the cymbal clash." Also lush and lovely is "Stretching the Lyric," which illustrates the Everydreams at a dance, as "[v]oices from under the sea / melted the smog into night / and drank ballads played on trumpets." Pilibosian describes her landscapes with color, music and sounds, the resulting poems becoming, at their core, loving depictions of life.A unique collection of verse with a sci-fi twist on the American dream.

Kirkus Reviews