{"product_id":"the-palace-of-forty-pillars-9781959030362","title":"The Palace of Forty Pillars","description":"Wry, tender, and formally innovative, Armen Davoudian's debut poetry collection, \u003cem\u003eThe Palace of Forty Pillars\u003c\/em\u003e, tells the story of a self estranged from the world around him as a gay adolescent, an Armenian in Iran, and an immigrant in America. It is a story darkened by the long shadow of global tragedies--the Armenian genocide, war in the Middle East, the specter of homophobia. With masterful attention to rhyme and meter, these poems also carefully witness the most intimate encounters: the awkward distance between mother and son getting ready in the morning, the delicate balance of power between lovers, a tense exchange with the morality police in Iran.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In Isfahan, Iran, the eponymous palace has only twenty pillars--but, reflected in its courtyard pool, they become forty. This is the gamble of Davoudian's magical, ruminative poems: to recreate, in art's reflection, a home for the speaker, who is unable to return to it in life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eArmen Davoudian has an MFA from Johns Hopkins University and is currently a PhD candidate in English at Stanford University. His poems and translations from Persian appear in \u003ci\u003ePoetry magazine\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ethe Hopkins Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ethe Yale Review\u003c\/i\u003e, and elsewhere. His chapbook, \u003ci\u003eSwan Song\u003c\/i\u003e, won the Frost Place Competition. Armen grew up in Isfahan, Iran, and lives in California.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Tin House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51831620403474,"sku":"9781959030362","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_0b763955-18e8-4b09-96fc-b14ed91a20ab.jpg?v=1767006937","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-palace-of-forty-pillars-9781959030362","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}