"In "Death of a Postcard" Minassian writes, "What does open / communication / really mean?" The poems in Time is Not a River balance historical personas with personal reflections. Minassian poses more questions than he answers. Perhaps history itself is a communication. Perhaps our communications within it, no matter how small, are historical. Something as common as a postcard attains pragmatic eloquence in these poems. "Time is Not a River" is a philosophy as much as a poetry collection. The reader will engage with familiar events from his or her own life, but will perhaps see them in an entirely different vein. Our lives are historical monuments. This should give us pause in our daily lives. Minassian himself took the time to share these speculative considerations from his heartaches and distances"--