Stories Told in a Lost Tongue by Elaine Harootunian Reardon

Elaine Harootunian Reardon’s quiet words speak to the immense longing for peace and place that resonates in every human heart.  She reminds us through deftly, gently constructed verse that our lives are the continuum of the ones who brought us here, that this is who we are, and that we best go forward in recognition of the love, courage and devotion of those who went before.  This is poetry in its finest sense – writing that casts the simple actions of our daily lives with an understanding of our deepest collective truths.  This is a volume that should be read, and reread often, to remind us of how we came to be where we are, and why this remembrance matters.

–Greg Fields, Author, Through the Waters and the Wild; Winner, 2022 Independent Press Award for Literary Fiction

Elaine Harootunian Reardon’s memory-infused chapbook, Stories Told in a Forgotten Tongue, is a feast for the senses, a palpable reminder that the past still sits at our kitchen table. Through ritual intimacies like rolling phyllo and crushing walnuts to make Gram’s paklava, Reardon invites us to experience the intoxicating tastes that resurrect family. Haunted by the 1915-1917 Armenian Genocide (“fathers dragged from homes / mothers sewing coins into clothes”), these poems also hold space for the collective pains, dreams, and hybrid voices of all second and third-generation immigrants. Each poem in this wondrous collection is an alchemical prayer, transforming the inheritance of genocide and migration into the spun gold of cooking and storytelling and intergenerational love. Swirling with savory flavors and alive with voices of the dead, Reardon’s stovetops and herb gardens ultimately serve up comfort and hope: each meticulously crafted poem offers “a newly hatched bird” as we wait expectantly for “bits of sweetness to fall.” These poems are a reminder of our cravings for home, dreams of reclaiming lost languages and holding them in our mouths now, and our insatiable hunger for poetry this alive.

–Casey Jarrin, Ph.D. | Poet & Educator

The ancient crafts of storytelling and fortune telling, embedded in memories of a homeland feature Elaine Harootunian Reardon hypnotic verses. Tongue and heart work in concert to shape a new poetic language whilst also expressing the reminiscences of the true tongue of paradise, a time before human beings were faded to forget about the eloquent words of nature. “In our culture you don’t want to draw much attention to what is precious”, says Elaine’s mesmerizing verse. Take a glimpse at these complex layers of meaning hidden in seemingly simple descriptions of gestures and rites. Enjoy these words in their subtle beauty, keeping in mind that real poetry can always provide a map for all that is true in life.

 —Heloisa Prieto, Brazilian award winning author of The Musician, Koehler’s Books