“The Art of Armadillidiidae” by Barbara Tran

May 9, 2025

Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “The Art of Armadillidiidae” by Barbara Tran, from Precedented Parroting (Palimpsest Press 2024), shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert and Pat Lowther Memorial Awards and longlisted for the Raymond Souster Award. Due to its formatting, this poem is only available as an image.

View the 2025 book award shortlists

The Art of Armadillidiidae

By Barbara Tran

after Elizabeth Bishop and Jericho Brown

A poem is a gesture toward home A snail balancing the weight of its exoskeleton on its soft body The weight of these days on our soft bodies Water’s lullaby pulling us ever seaward We say it as if it’s softer than “cancer” the “C-word” How many soft bodies rely on such a flimsy euphemism as a shield Conglobation may serve as a more effective shield Take a note from the Armadillidiidae who roll up when confronted with pressure Armadillidiidae are land crustaceans Their lobster cousins harder shelled During molting they crack their shields straight down the back leaving them exposed but for a paper-thin exoskeleton enabling them to replace parts of themselves they’ve lost regrowing lost legs claws antennae Haven’t we all lost something in this shell of a year lost something we’d like to replace I lost my heart my head (lost over some trifle probably) I lost my uncle my mother my way By the laws of probability the losing’s not over What’s left to do but gather what’s left of me A poem is a gesture toward home

Copyright © Barbara Tran

From Precedented Parroting (Palimpsest Press 2024), short-listed for the Gerald Lampert and Pat Lowther Memorial Awards and longlisted for the Raymond Souster Award.

Barbara Tran revels in blurring the lines between genres. She authored the titular character’s narration of “Madame Pirate: Becoming a Legend,” a short VR film nominated for Best VR Story at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. Her short fiction has garnered two National Magazine Award nominations. A lyric essay was longlisted for the CBC Nonfiction Prize. “Precedented Parroting,” a finalist for the 2024 Governor General’s Literary Award, is her debut book. She lives in Tkaronto and is a member of the international collectives AfroMundo and She Who Has No Master(s).

Subscribe to Poetry Pause, or support Poetry Pause with a donation today!

Browse the Poetry Pause archives