Victoria Chang is the author of six books of poetry, including Obit, listed in The New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2020, and as one of Time Magazine’s 100 Must-Read Books of 2020. Born in Detroit to Taiwanese immigrants, she was educated at the University of Michigan, Harvard University, and Stanford Business School, and holds an MFA in poetry from Warren Wilson. In The Trees Witness Everything (Copper Canyon Press), Chang reinvigorates language through concentration, using constraint to illuminate and free the wild interior. Composed mainly in various Japanese syllabic forms called “wakas,” each poem is shaped by pattern and count. It’s a highly original work that innovates inside the lineage of great poets, including W.S. Merwin, whose poem titles are repurposed as frames and mirrors for the text, stitching past and present in complex dialogue. Chang depicts the smooth, melancholic isolation of the mind while reaching outward to name – with reverence, economy, and whimsy – the ache of wanting.
