Boghos Artinian’s most recent poem to appear here was Pacing in the tomb (April 2013).
The Performance
By Boghos Artinian
A renowned pianist
with Aztec features
performing
a piano concerto
by Beethoven.
My imagination
takes him back
five hundred years
atop a Mexican pyramid,
performing a sacrifice
to the sun.
He slits open
the chest of the victim
and extracts the heart
still beating, and raises it
with both hands
toward the sun.
The Aztecs, in thousands
around the pyramid
clap and roar.
Suddenly I’m back
in the hall
as the pianist with Aztec features
stands triumphant
and bows
to the roaring audience.
