Firdaus Parvez

The Art of Extinction

I fold the square sheet of paper diagonally, pressing in the crease with my thumbnail. This is my first attempt at making a swan. Following the instructions on the origami YouTube video, I must have missed a step because the bird-like thing in my hand has its head facing the wrong way. The paper is too wilted to start over again so I put it aside, deciding it’s a dead swan.

nothing stirs
on the swamp water
for miles
an expanse of dirty green
and patterns of white plastic

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About the Author 

Firdaus Parvez lives in Aligarh, a town close to New Delhi, India. She writes short stories, flash fiction, and poems about love and loss, family and relationships, stumbling across them in folds of ordinary lives. She has a few published works both online and in print.