MICHAEL CHANG

鬼地方 UNHOLY PLACE

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u try so hard for everyone else, wut abt doing something for urself

google search: charlie puth height

brodsky claimed that birds in poems = the poet themselves

more likely: birds in poems = carl phillips

i’d rather get squished by a tank than write abt tiananmen

shush, sanctimonious cathy

change the label, still sewage in a bottle

i’m a serious child, ur an ekphrastic of an ekphrastic

when i was a preteen & closer to death

i was ashamed for the boy & his bike

huge, shiny, & new

so practiced at lifting my legs, separating from reality

shaft me gig economy

i rely on a strength, it comes from inside

i wait to walk behind u, stare gratuitously

u have the same idea, so clever

i look twice

there is dignity in work

like piss hitting the back of a statue

soon ur breathing on me

elevator in limbo: 16th floor

knowing how to proceed: another kind of surrender

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MICHAEL CHANG (they/them) is the author of several collections of poetry, including BOYFRIEND PERSPECTIVE (Really Serious Literature, 2021), ALMANAC OF USELESS TALENTS (CLASH Books, 2022), & SYNTHETIC JUNGLE (Northwestern University Press, 2023). Tapped to edit Lambda Literary’s Emerge anthology, their poems have been nominated for Best New Poets, Best of the Net, & the Pushcart Prize. They were awarded the Poetry Project’s prestigious Brannan Prize in 2021, & serve as a poetry editor at the acclaimed journal Fence.