5: Armen Davoudian

Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.

The Yellow Swan 

by Armen Davoudian

 I love the black swan.
…………………………………..— James Merrill, “The Black Swan”

At noon the pedaled swans afloat midstream
……………or parked at the water’s rim
find the boy first in line or there before
there is a line, and always the nice boatman
lets him mount his favorite ride, whose name
……………defies all rust and wear.
……..He whispers, I love the yellow swan,

a secret he knows better than to share
……………save in the hollow ear
like curve of that arched neck whose mirror image
breaks on rings of water as he climbs
between the wings and pedals from the pier,
……………a trail of molted plumage
……..shuddering in his wake. The river foams,

churned by the paddlewheel and changed to ocean,
……………its surface cut by the question
mark of the swan—no, dragon—gliding on
the hissing blood-stained waters as he turns
fire on darkness, almost wins his mission
……………while his parents chat in the sun,
……..unaware of all that burns

down on the other bank. But like most love
……………the swan-ride is cut off.
The stroke of one o’clock returns the beast
To boat, the boat to boatman. He hates the boatman.
He hates his parents, whom he won’t forgive.
……………He hates the girl who’s next.
……..Poor boy, he hates the yellow swan.

About the Author

Armen Davoudian is the author of The Palace of Forty Pillars, forthcoming from Tin House Books in in Winter 2024. His poems and translations from Persian appear in Poetry magazine, the Hopkins Review, the Yale Review, and elsewhere. His chapbook, Swan Song, won the 2020 Frost Place Competition. Armen grew up in Isfahan, Iran, and is a PhD candidate in English at Stanford University.

Queer Poem a Day: Lineage Edition

• 1: Richie Hoffman
• 2: Derrick Austin
• 3: Maggie Millner
• 4: Rachel Mennies
• 5: Armen Davoudian
• 6: Tara Skurtu
• 7: K. Iver
• 8: Chen Chen
• 9: Alicia Mountain
• 10: Jameson Fitzpatrick
• 11: Randall Mann
• 12: Megan Fernandes
• 13: Amanda Gunn
• 14: Composer Robert Savage and John Ashbery

Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this third year of our series is the AIDS Ward Scherzo by Robert Savage, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Commission.