Obit : poems / Victoria Chang.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chang, Victoria, 1970- author.

Contributor:

Laura Jan Meyerson Poetry Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Obituaries.

Obituaries--Poetry.

Genre:

Poetry.

Physical Description:

113 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Port Townsend, Washington : Copper Canyon Press, [2020]

Summary:

"After her mother died, poet Victoria Chang refused to write elegies. Rather, she distilled her grief during a feverish two weeks by writing scores of poetic obituaries for all she lost in the world. In Obit, Chang writes of "the way memory gets up after someone has died and starts walking." These poems reinvent the form of newspaper obituary to both name what has died ("civility," "language," "the future," "Mother's blue dress") and the cultural impact of death on the living. Whereas elegy attempts to immortalize the dead, an obituary expresses loss, and the love for the dead becomes a conduit for self-expression. In this unflinching and lyrical book, Chang meets her grief and creates a powerful testament for the living"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

I

My Father's Frontal Lobe p. 5

My Mother p. 6

Victoria Chang p. 7

Victoria Chang p. 8

Voice Mail p. 9

My children, children p. 11

Each time I write hope p. 11

Victoria Chang p. 13

Civility p. 15

My Mother's Lungs p. 16

Privacy p. 17

My Mother's Teeth p. 18

I tell my children p. 19

Friendships p. 20

Gait p. 21

Logic p. 22

Optimism p. 23

Ambition p. 24

Chair p. 25

Do you smell my cries? p. 26

I tell my children p. 26

Tears p. 27

Memory p. 28

Tomas Tranströmer p. 30

Approval p. 31

Sometimes all I have p. 32

You don't need a thing p. 32

Secrets p. 33

Appetite p. 35

Appetite p. 36

Optimism p. 38

I can't say with faith p. 39

To love anyone p. 39

Hands p. 40

Oxygen p. 41

Reason p. 42

Home p. 43

Memory p. 44

II

I Am a Miner. The Light Burns Blue. p. 47

III

Friendships p. 61

Caretakers p. 62

Subject Matter p. 63

Sadness p. 64

Empathy p. 65

The Obituary Writer p. 66

Do you see the tree? p. 67

My children, children p. 67

The Doctors p. 68

Yesterday p. 69

Grief p. 70

Doctors p. 71

Blame p. 72

Time p. 73

Today I show you p. 74

My children, children p. 74

Control p. 76

The Situation p. 77

Memory p. 78

Doctors p. 79

Obsession p. 80

My children, children p. 81

My children don't have p. 81

The Clock p. 82

Hope p. 84

The Head p. 85

The Blue Dress p. 86

Hindsight p. 87

The Priest p. 88

I put on a shirt p. 89

Where do they find hope? p. 89

The Car p. 90

My Mother's Favorite Potted Tree p. 91

Similes p. 92

Affection p. 93

Home p. 94

When a mother dies p. 95

My children, children p. 95

The Bees p. 96

Victoria Chang p. 97

Clothes p. 98

Guilt p. 99

The Ocean p. 100

The Face p. 101

My children say no p. 102

Have you ever looked p. 102

IV

America p. 104

I am ready to p. 105

My children, children p. 105.

Notes:

Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards - Poetry, Winner, 2021

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Laura Jan Meyerson Poetry Fund.

ISBN:

9781556595745

1556595743

OCLC:

1119480837

Publisher Number:

99984106350