Holy

by Christopher Atamian | Jan 20, 2016 | Poetry

Christopher Atamian is a writer, translator, curator, creative producer and director. He co-produced the OBIE Award–winning play Trouble in Paradise, as well as several MTV music videos and short films which have screened in festivals around the world. Atamian has been awarded two Tölölyan Literary prizes and received a 2023 an Oxford University/IALA Essay Writing prize. He was selected to participate in the 2009 Venice Biennale on the basis of his video Sarafian’s Desire. He continues to contribute critical pieces to publications such as The New York Times Book Review, The Huffington Post, and the LARB, while working on other creative endeavors in film and theater. Atamian has translated six books and a novel, Manhattan Boy, and is currently working on several film and theatrical projects. He received a 2015 Ellis Island Medal of Honor and has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award. When he is not writing, he runs Atamian Hovsepian Gallery in New York CIty with his colleague Tamar Hovsepian.

for Patti Smith

Holy is the ground you walk on.
Holy the Earth and the sky, holy the water you drink and the air you breathe
Holy is the poet and the singer and the maker of images
Holy are Patti and Robert and Sylvia and Allen
Holy is the night, holy is the day, holy is the breeze
Holy is my fright, holy is my might,
Holy is the tease
Who walks slowly his hips swaying, mouth braying
Holy my mother’s kiss against my cheek, holy her eyes, holy her skin, her laughter as well holy
Holy the flowers that bloom holy my impending sense of doom
Holy the land of the Cherokees and the Iroquois, the Choctaw and the Sioux
Holy our twelve lost provinces Holy Van, Holy Erzerum, Holy Diyarbakir, Holy Mush, Holy Adana
Holy New York City, Paris and Constantinople,
Holy London and Beirut, Holy Soho, Holy Tribeca, and Cobble Hill
Holy Mecca, Holy Ganges, Holy Etchmiadzin and Jerusalem
Holy are the Heights that Washington tread upon to save our freedom
Holy the million gay cocks that each day ply ass and mouth apart
Holy the first boy I fucked the first breast I touched the first vagina I sucked
Holy the thin blond boy who first parted my cheeks and shook my insides like a ragged doll holy
Holy the hips that banged into mine holy ball sack flapping in the air, holy mouth that made you want to sacrifice Christ
Holy bangs that played hide and seek with doe-eyed evil God-like beauty
Holy warm semen gushing onto ass condom water air gasping
Holy my ass and holy yours as well
Holy your eyes that see your reflection in mine
Holy Rumi Holy Shakespeare Holy Proust Holy Wilde, Holy Indra
Holy Rubayait Holy Bible Holy Kuran Holy the Torah Holy Kama Sutra
Holy double fuck holy mother fucker holy cock the size of a horse holy breasts that spew forth milk holy shit holy shit holy shit
Holy the needle that goes into the arm holy the smoke that floats in the sky holy the drugs that course through your veins holy pipe holy high
Holy heaven and holy hell
Holy is the God who doesn’t exist. Holy is your hole and holy is your soul.
Holy is the God who doesn’t exist. Holy is your hole and holy is your soul.
Holy is the maternal kiss holy is sexual bliss
Holy

Christopher Atamian

Christopher Atamian is a writer, translator, curator, creative producer and director. He co-produced the OBIE Award–winning play Trouble in Paradise, as well as several MTV music videos and short films which have screened in festivals around the world. Atamian has been awarded two Tölölyan Literary prizes and received a 2023 an Oxford University/IALA Essay Writing prize. He was selected to participate in the 2009 Venice Biennale on the basis of his video Sarafian’s Desire. He continues to contribute critical pieces to publications such as The New York Times Book Review, The Huffington Post, and the LARB, while working on other creative endeavors in film and theater. Atamian has translated six books and a novel, Manhattan Boy, and is currently working on several film and theatrical projects. He received a 2015 Ellis Island Medal of Honor and has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award. When he is not writing, he runs Atamian Hovsepian Gallery in New York CIty with his colleague Tamar Hovsepian.