Vahe H. Apelian
I met and befriended Sylva Portoian a few years ago through Facebook. Throughout those years I conjured an image of her, as we usually do towards friends we befriended online but not met in person. I knew that she is a medical doctor who likes to “poet” and that she has authored twenty books of poetry in a relatively short span, since 2007. She has also been the winner of the Carnegie Poetry Prize, NY, U.S.A.
My curiosity got a better hold of me. Among the books, she has authored one particular book that caught my attention for two reasons: the title of the book and its cover picture. I thought that book, among the others, may likely validate or negate my mental image of her as a person who “thinks outside the box”. Anguished over the Armenian young men dying in the prime of their lives in defense of the homeland, she suggested having a sperm bank for men on the front line. She exhorted Armenian men to marry Armenians to replenish the loss of a generation. The title of the book, for that matter, is “YOUR BRAIN ‘IS NOT’ a BOX”. As to the cover of the book, it depicts a woman against a background of gears, implying an active mind. Her book cover, Silva notes, is painted by the famous painter Vakhtang Sirunyan.
The book is 173 pages long including the dedication, a list of her medical publications, select stanzas from her publications, a glossary of medical terms she used in her poetry, a list of her books, an index that lists “Title, first line, names & others”, glossary of words of her creation, and other personal notes such as quotes from poets and writers. She presented her poems in eight parts, titling each part, such as “Do You Think Your Brain Is A Box?” for Part I and “Petite Poems Like Tiny Lilies, Like Childhood Rhymes” for Part VII. She noted that the income from her books will be donated to an Armenian orphanage, where her mother - Viva Partoian - was sheltered during the Armenian Genocide of 1915.
On social media, I have read Sylva passionately argue against religion. But her poetry exudes a true humanist and she comes across as a woman of faith in the goodness of people. I am reminded of the following two passages from the bible. The first being 1 Corinthian 13:13 “And now these three remain faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” The other is the following from Isaiah 41: 10 “Fear not, for I am with you.” I quoted these two passages because love and fearing not, permeate her poetry.
About love she wrote. I quote the following from her poetry titled, “The love ~ I Have, All and Whole”.
The love I have
I have it all
Deep till core.
I can give all
Never partial
Never half-half.
About fear she wrote, quoting a few lines from her poetry titled “I Feel No-One Should Have Fear”.
Why fear? If I have not committed any crime.
Why fear? If I am honest and clear of crime.
Why fear? If I am searching for justice to prevail.
Why fear? If I can make bread from grains
Why fear? If I have faith inside my cells.
I cannot say that I particularly like poetry. For example, Maya Angelo is mostly presented as an “an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist”, in that order. But I did not enjoy her poetry as much as her prose. I have enjoyed reading her two books in prose, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” and “The Heart of Woman”. But I cannot say that I have completed reading any one of her poetry books. But I enjoyed reading Sylva Portoian’s poems. They are easy to read conveying their unmistakable message peppered at times with medical terms.
Her poetry is uplifting. It dwells on the better nature of man but does not absolve a person from the responsibility of nurturing its better nature. She advises the reader to “Take Care of Your Glial Cells”, and to deal with “Loneliness-Loveless, Searching Soulful ~Face”, “Internal Happiness. How Can We Keep It Safe?” and to “Train Your Brain To Feel Young Like a Deer Climbing Hills”, and many and many more such captivating poems and foremost, assume responsibility and “Never Blame Anyone”.
My impression is that she is not anti-religion but argues vehemently against those whom she envisions absolving themselves of personal responsibility and placing them squarely on God. I do not want to tread a minefield I am ill-prepared to navigate, religion. But is it not that God feeds the birds because birds cheerfully and tirelessly work all day long, hopping from one tree to the next, to make their substance? Are we not to "walk through the valley of the shadow of death" and not camp there, expecting to be rescued? I believe it is the self-reliance that drives her and that is what she vehemently argues for and not for being religious or because she is anti-religion... And by the same token, she claims, should drive her homeland Armenia as well, to be self-reliant in preserving itself.
From her prodigious literary output, it is not hard to surmise that she is a born poet. In her poetry titled “If I Don’t Poet”, she wrote:
If I don’t poet, my brain cells will sigh
Why should I allow my brain cells to cry?
Thus... I must poet, I must continue poeting.
If “Your Brain 'Is Not' a Box”, what is then? Here is what she says. Do not worry, should you happen not to understand what nuclei, glial cell astrocytes, and dendrites are. She has a whole list of medical terms she uses, explained
Your Brain is Your Tree
Full of Green Leaves
Never Leave
Its nuclei
To Cry
Dry
Sigh
Die.
Sylva Portoian, M.D., and her husband, who is a cardiac surgeon, retired recently after 50 years of active work. They are blessed with two grown-up sons who are accomplished medical professionals married to Armenians who also are accomplished medical professionals. They have two grandsons. No wonder Sylva says, “I live on the Armenian Highlands, At Dawn~At Dusk”.
As an added note. “Don’t Lock Your Brain in a Box”, she titled one of her poems, Instead, Sylva poets:
Give chance
For Your Brain
To Breathe
Like your Lungs.
To Beat
Like your Heart
To sing
Like your
Vocal Cords
To Paint
Like your
Fingers
To Dance Like
Your
Legs
Never lock your Brain
In a Box.
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