When the mothers leave,
what are we supposed to do?
I have rented light,
but all that’s left is a search-
light shining in the
wrong country. What happens to
those raindrops now that
someone has seen them?
Victoria Chang’s forthcoming book of poems, With My Back to the World, will be published in 2024 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Her most recent book of poetry, The Trees Witness Everything, was published by Copper Canyon Press and Corsair Books in the U.K. in 2022. Her nonfiction book, Dear Memory (Milkweed Editions), was published in 2021. OBIT (Copper Canyon Press, 2020), her most recent poetry book, was named a New York Times Notable Book, 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. It was also longlisted for a National Book Award and named a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Griffin International Poetry Prize. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship. She lives in Los Angeles and is Acting Program Chair and Faculty member within Antioch’s low-residency MFA Program. She is the current poetry editor of the New York Times.
From The Trees Witness Everything. Copyright © 2022 by Victoria Chang. Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, coppercanyonpress.org.
Victoria Chang’s latest book is The Trees Witness Everything. (Copper Canyon Press, 2022). Visit with her and her work at the Miami Book Fair 2022 on 11/19 at noon in Room 6100. Cover art by: Phil Kovacevich.
Welcome to SWWIM Every Day’s preview coverage of Miami Book Fair (MBF) 2021! The poets whose work you’ll be reading every weekday from October 25 through November 12 are just a few of the many authors from around the world participating in this year’s MBF, the nation’s largest gathering of writers and readers of all ages. They all look forward to sharing their work, thoughts, and ideas both in person and online. Between November 14 and November 21, new poet conversations and readings will be launched and available for free on miamibookfaironline.com (in addition to other content). For more information, visit the website and follow MBF on Instagram and Twitter at @miamibookfair and use the hashtag #miamibookfair2021.