The Trees Witness Everything

The Trees Witness Everything - Paperback

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$17.00
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The Trees Witness Everything
  • The Trees Witness Everything
The Trees Witness Everything - Paperback

The Trees Witness Everything - Paperback

by Victoria Chang
$17.00
$17.00

Book Overview

by Victoria Chang (Author)

A lover of strict form, best-selling poet Victoria Chang turns to compact Japanese waka, powerfully innovating on tradition while continuing her pursuit of one of life's hardest questions: how to let go.

In The Trees Witness Everything, Victoria Chang reinvigorates language by way of concentration, using constraint to illuminate and free the wild interior. Largely composed in various Japanese syllabic forms called "wakas," each poem is shaped by pattern and count. This highly original work 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, the hawk and its shadow, our human urge to hide the minute beneath the light.

Author Biography

Born in Detroit, Michigan to Taiwanese immigrants, Victoria Chang was educated at the University of Michigan, Harvard University, and Stanford Business School and holds an MFA in poetry from Warren Wilson. She is the author of six books of poetry, including Obit, which was named a "New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2020" and included on Time Magazine's "100 Must-Read Books of 2020." She lives in Southern California with her family and serves as the Program Chair of Antioch's Low-Residency MFA Program.

Number of Pages: 144
Dimensions: 0.7 x 8.9 x 4 IN
Publication Date: April 26, 2022
ISBN9781556596322
Author Victoria Chang
PublisherCopper Canyon Press
GenreLiterature and Family
FormatPaperback
PublishedApril 2022
LanguageENG- English
Pages144
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceAdults
Print SizeStandard Print

Related Subjects

Nonfiction Poetry

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About Victoria Chang

Victoria Chang has written several books of poetry, including With My Back to the World, which received the Forward Prize in Poetry for Best Collection of Poems. Her poetry collection OBIT was named a New York Times Notable Book and a TIME Must-Read Book, and received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Poetry, and the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry. It was also long-listed for a National Book Award and named a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Griffin International Poetry Prize. She has published many other books including a nonfiction book, Dear Memory and several books for children such as a middle grade verse novel, Love Love. Chang has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Chowdhury International Literature Award. She is the Bourne Chair in Poetry at Georgia Tech and the Director of Poetry@Tech.

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