A celebration of Persian voices and talent

Butterfly by Armen Davoudian

Poetry

Butterfly

by Armen Davoudian
“Five fish scales sequined / on each hindwing: / polished nails / of a boy fluttering”

Butterfly
by Armen Davoudian

Five fish scales sequined
on each hindwing:
polished nails
of a boy fluttering
his hands against
the light, fingers
splayed, thumbs
hooked, shadow of
what he’ll become.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Armen Davoudian’s poems and translations from Persian appear in Poetry, the Sewanee Review, the Yale Review, and elsewhere. His chapbook, Swan Song, won the 2020 Frost Place Competition. He grew up in Isfahan, Iran and lives in California, where he is a PhD candidate in English at Stanford University.

AUTHOR PHOTO BY MATTHEW LANSBURGH • FEATURED IMAGE by Joshua Hoehne via Unsplash