Armen Davoudian weaves together Persian, Armenian culture through poetry

Armen Davoudian combined Persian and Armenian culture with English to reflect on life abroad and in the United States during a poetry reading Wednesday.

Davoudian, a doctoral student studying English at Stanford, read poems about his mother, father, grandfather and others in his life at the Hammer Museum. Stephen Yenser, a distinguished English professor at UCLA, introduced Davoudian’s work with an explanation of the term “metanoia” — the topic of Davoudian’s dissertation. While there are other academic terms that describe the same meaning, metanoia is about a transformation in how people think through the written word, Yenser said.

“It’s the word for a change of mind in the mid-sentence in a piece of prose, or especially in a poem,” Yenser said. “The change can be an extraordinary transformation of some sort, or it can just be a change of thought – a very useful tool in the writer’s craft.”

Davoudian’s approach to changing people’s minds also coincided with how he presented his poems to the audience. One of his poems was about coffee, which he described with phrases such as “roasted until paralyzed” and “happy or sad.” He ended the poem with, “No matter, the future is always black and bitter.” Seconds after he finished reading the poem, Davoudian said to the crowd, “always the optimist,” and the entire audience laughed in response.

He also used humor when providing context for a poem he wrote about his grandfather, which incorporates phrases from Persian and Armenian culture. Davoudian explained that because of translations, the phrases sometimes don’t make sense in another language but he enjoys the confusion.

Jose Alcantara, an attendee of the event, said he was inspired by Davoudian’s ability to effectively use rhymes. During the Q&A session, Alcantara asked Davoudian about his relationship with rhyming, saying that most modern poets do not rhyme in English. Davoudian said it is easier to rhyme in Persian than in English, as English has almost two to three times as many vowels as Persian. Consequently, there is a greater variation in English, he added, and the word order is less flexible.

Alcantara said that out of the 3,000 poems he has written himself, very little of them rhyme, as he tends not to like rhymes. He added that he enjoyed Davoudian’s execution of rhyme schemes, which has encouraged him to consider how rhyming can be used by other poets as an effective tool.

Armen Khanbabaei, who also attended the event, said he appreciated Davoudian’s cultural allusions. As someone who is from the same country and who underwent the same immigration process, Khanbabaei said he related to Davoudian’s life experiences. He added that the small details Davoudian included – such as the smells, sounds and flavors incorporated in the poems – remind him of home.

Daniel Bilezikian, another attendee, said he is grateful for the exploration of Armenian culture in Los Angeles. Growing up, he was not given the opportunity to attend cultural events, Bilezikian added, and he wanted to attend Davoudian’s poetry reading to connect more with his culture.

Davoudian’s poem about his grandfather and rugs was especially memorable, he said. Davoudian said in his reading that his grandfather had a collection of rugs. Similarly, Bilezikian said his Armenian father loved collecting Middle Eastern rugs and Bilezikian owns many old rugs. He said his worn down rugs are some of his most prized possessions. Bilezikian added that rugs are often made locally, communicate stories and can be viewed as art and a way for people to express themselves. Davoudian’s poem, titled “Rug Game,” ended with a connection between the death of his grandfather and a rug that can no longer be fixed.

During the Q&A session, Yenser asked Davoudian to read the epigraph in Davoudian’s book “The Palace of Forty Pillars.” The epigraph was “The house is past,” which was a quote from Theodor Adorno. Yenser said he was unsure of what some of the motifs meant throughout the poems, including mentions of the home and the palace. He added that he thought Adorno referenced houses in relation to capitalism but was curious as to what the motifs mean in Davoudian’s poems. Davoudian said a special aspect of poetry is how open-ended it can be.

“It’s one thing I like about poetry. You get to be, maybe intellectually responsible in a way that one doesn’t get to be as a critic,” Davoudian said. “It’s less, maybe for me at least, about finding what something meant, and more about what it meant to me or to whoever the writer is.”