Boghos L Artinian, MD MRCP, is a physician who has been practicing medicine in Beirut since 1975. Boghos started writing poetry in 1986. Although written recently, this poem depicts a real experience he had while interviewing for a position in London. Boghos was inspired to write this remembrance as a protest against discrimination during recruitment.
The Interview (1973)
By Boghos L Artinian
When I entered the waiting room
for an interview for a post,
there had been loud talk and laughter
that quick turned into dead silence.
The all were looking at me askance;
I must have looked Anglo-Saxon
to them, until they made me talk
and learned that I was Middle Eastern–
like them, a foreigner for the post.
And their voices crescendoed,
the competition having now turned fair
again for the post, until there came
that single Englishman who robbed
their hopes for good, as he was quick
led into the interview room
and out after a few minutes
triumphant. We were all reimbursed
for our troubles and our return home.
