Book description
A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF 2022
'Impeccable, precise poems, sometimes shocking and strange, but always startling' Irish Times
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…
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Why read it?
1 author picked The Trees Witness Everything as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Victoria Chang’s book is a masterclass in poetic compression. Using Japanese poetry forms and borrowing titles from W.S. Merwin, Chang creates an utterly original and hauntingly lyrical collection.
What I also found so impressive was how the form became invisible. Even knowing the constraints of Chang's forms, the poems feel exactly as long/short as they need to be, the lines are broken exactly where they need to be, and the words feel like just enough. The result is close, concentrated attention to vivid images.
If you love The Trees Witness Everything...
December on 5C4
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
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