Elizabeth Rosenman By Elizabeth Rosenman
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Heaven’s glamour queen
flamboyantly flutters by
—forgets cocoon life.
When Elizabeth Rosenman isn’t writing poetry, she represents political asylum seekers pro bono through Seattle’s Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and writes about the American asylum system.
Why we chose this piece: The idea of a butterfly coming out of its cocoon has certainly been explored before, but we enjoyed Elizabeth’s approach. The opening is gorgeous, and we love how this poem manages to be quiet yet loud. The alliteration used to mimic wings is also a nice touch. What’s most striking is the use of the word “flamboyantly.” It’s a bold choice. On the one hand, it’s an adverb, which would send many writers shrieking from the room. However, “flamboyantly” is in itself a flamboyant word and in a meta-twist, captures the ethos of this butterfly nicely.
