Chen Chen

this is one of my favorite poems i’ve ever written—and i wrote it with my best friend! yes, @samforbreakfast , who will be here in rochester ~tomorrow~. yes, we’ll be reading together at @theunreliablenarratorroc on saturday (swipe to the last slide for details). yes, “The Propreantepenultimate Day on Earth” is in our collab chap LOVE THAT FOR US (@andchangepoetry ), which we’ll be reading from (yes!). mhm, “propreantepenultimate” means fifth to last, a very handy term to use, say, at lunch or dinner but probably not breakfast. mhmmm, samforbreakfast & chenchenwrites together again in the same city. will yet another city become 1001x queerer due to our joint venture in verdant joy? who’s to say? we say! yeah. (yay.)

this poem was published last fall in Assaracus, but now seems like the perfect time to share it here, as i’m gearing up for another gorgeous june week at @kpondwriters conference! (you should apply! yes, you! link in bio!) i wrote this poem, “Perfect Day,” right after a perfect hike and an even perfecter ice cream moment with my colleagues. my thanks to @michaelseidlinger , @slarty.bartfast , @christophercitropoet , and @dopestorybroo for making that day so sweet and memorable. as the title and “after” note suggest, this poem was also inspired by a rewatch of Wim Wenders’s brilliant film, Perfect Days, at the conference, thanks to fellow faculty @kevinbertolero ’s curation. swipe to read the whole poem, then to see a shot of the protagonist, a Tokyo public toilet cleaner, played (sublimely) by Kōji Yakusho. next is the beautiful cover of the issue of Assaracus in which my work appears (thanks again to @bryanborland & @siblingrivalrypress !)—i just had to share that butt again, and now it looks like Kōji Yakusho‘s character is looking up at that butt, and you know what, that’s an essential ingredient to any perfect day in my book (looking up at a perfect butt). last three slides are scenes from Kettle Pond—perfect view during the hike, gay pose by the perfect lake (hello, Lower St. Regis!), perfect lozenges when my throat was not feeling well (thanks to conference director Virginia Zech). have i convinced you to apply yet? to all this perfection?? you simply must.

happy asian & pacific american heritage month! let’s support AAPI writers, readers, literature!! as a former @kundimanforever fellow, it’s a total honor-delight to now serve as a team leader for this may’s big fundraiser. if you can, please join me in contributing to scholarship funds for fellows to attend this summer’s retreat—please join team chenniful! ✨ link in bio ✨ 1-3: my poem “Spell to Find Family,” which i wrote over a decade ago (!) at my first kundiman retreat in 2014. i was so overwhelmed by all the (actual, meaningful) communal creativity that a poem just had to poem out of me. (memory: Marilyn Chin looking around the room & telling us fellows: “you are the future of asian american literature.” no big deal, no pressure!) 4: kundiman mission & vision statements 🌟 5: team chenniful campaign page. the photo is from summer of 2019–my last retreat. yes, that’s me sitting in the bottom row with my little backpack. so many beautiful brilliances in one image here. (memory: Jan-Henry Gray telling me how moved he was to see faculty & staff participating in karaoke along with fellows.) 6-7: team chenniful statement 🫶 yes, we need these collective spaces for artistic & political work more than ever. 8: postcard with lines from Jordan Alam. [breath] 9: team chenniful fundraising goal. let’s try to cover one full retreat scholarship! 10: meaning of “kundiman” for those unfamiliar or in need of a refresher 💐 11: postcard with words from Paisley Rekdal. [joy] 12: despite despite despite.

yes the planet is gay. gayer than i am in fact. (i’m kinda joking about biopics, kinda not. maybe i should’ve said “mediocre biopics,” but it’s just not a genre i generally enjoy.)

had a gorgeous (sunny!) time teaching, reading, & hanging in Fresno/at Clovis Community College. thank you @mistavonsta , @_dianasaur__ , & everyone who had a hand in making all the magic happen. happy end of national poetry month & happy beginning of AAPI heritage month! 1: i’ve never been referred to as a VIP before so of course i had to take a pic with this glorious parking sign (with my @bleakhousebookshk tote). i’m a VIP! for one day only! but what a day. thanks to Diana for the photo. oh, we forgot to take one together—next time! 2: with my brilliant co-reader, @pennyloafa . if you haven’t read All the Words I Can Remember Are Poems yet—please do! immediately!! & look at how cute our shoes are!!! 3: one of the faces i make while reading, apparently. 4: with Von & Michelle. a true honor-pleasure to be in your warm company. 5: another one of the faces i make while reading mhm. 6: thank you for using this photo of me from 10 years ago. so young & fresh & still somewhat oblivious to the realities of the publishing world. 7: of course we had to be VIPs together in one photo. 8: from VIP to VIP, lemme tell you a secret that’s not at all a secret: i cannot drive. 9: with @judgingbythecover.books , our incredible bookseller. 10-12: getting the MOST out of that backdrop. and yes we each had our own personal chandelier. for we are VIPs. 13: with some of the folks who came to the Willow Poetry Reading Series event. so much gratitude to everyone who came to the reading. it was particularly moving to see & catch up with @apryl_slay_june , one of my classmates at Texas Tech! 14: Chen x3 in Von’s ethnic studies class. thanks to Von for having me guest teach. thanks to all the wonderful students who participated in the generative poetry workshop. thanks to @theillustriouspearl , @emilyjungminyoon , & @kazimalipoet for the poems i just had to share with these students. 15-17: some book signing moments. 18: Q&A with Michelle. now i always want a Q&A buddy & i want it to be Michelle always.

can’t believe national poetry month is already coming to a close! some thoughts on making poems (including editing my new book) + some words from Jenny Zhang, Jean Valentine, Louise Glück, Carl Phillips, Mary Ruefle, & Yuki Tanaka (the incredible full opening poem to his book, Chronicle of Drifting) 🌙

had a heart-bursting, blossom-filled time at the sarah lawrence poetry festival! thanks to @feetontheflooor & @kerrykurdziel & everyone who had a hand in making @slcpoetryfest so beautiful. deeply honored to return to the festival this year & share space (& caesar wraps) with so many wonderful writers (including ones i forgot to take photos with, like my @necmfa pals @lonesome_marie & @anannadroid ). 1: basking in the bright & the pink (somewhere by slonim house). 2: reading a predecessor poem from my first book before diving into a selection from Quintessential Earthly Activities, my new collection forthcoming next spring. 3: selfie with @pinestereo after his superb reading. 4: festival sign in slonim. 5: with @mariehowe77 after her luminous reading. 6: marie, reading. 7: slide from @r.a.villanueva ’s fantastic generative session, featuring a poem by @mosab_abutoha , who read & presented—poems, facts, family trees, histories, demands for justice in palestine—in the last session of the festival. 8: @monsteryoun , reading brilliant poems i need to teach (again). not pictured (because i spaced out): @saharsomebody , who also read in this session—such moving, musical poems. 9: @cawkward_rich , reading & powerpointing & making us rethink what a poem/any text can be. 10-11: outfit selfies because the outfit was so splendid. 12: potato salad made by @jeffplaysmoog 🥔 🫶 13: view from amtrak on the way to yonkers. 14-15: never have i looked so joyful in reading photos—thank you to the students who took these! 16-17: the 🐴 folder i’ve been using to carry my new manuscript around in + the new manuscript 🌏👨🏻‍🎨 18: my books in the slonim living room. thanks so much to chris steib & @transombookshop ! 19: a sign in the heimbold visual arts center, where many events took place. 20: 🌸.

very sad to learn that hampshire college will be closing at the end of the year. my heart breaks for all the current faculty, staff, & students who are having to navigate this loss & figure out new paths. & my heart goes out to my former mentors & fellow alums, especially in literature & creative writing. here are some photos from my years at hampshire (plus a few from visits), where thanks to the brilliance all around me, i realized that yes, i need to be a poet. 1: reading from my thesis (aka div iii), a collection of poems that would eventually become my first published chapbook. gratitude always to deb gorlin & @aracelisxgirmay for their mentorship during those early poem-making days. i was so incredibly lucky. 2: with @carolyn.lm —a gift to share the div iii reading stage with you. 3: “studying” in the bridge. 4: hanging out in a dorm room. 5: a day during thxgiving break at @jekel_art ’s. posting because lol my kpop boy group outfit (& hair). 6: on the pvta, probably on my way to northampton. 7-8: northampton & amherst photos by anna. 9: deb introducing me at a poetry reading back on campus in spring 2018. 10: with @scheidfrantz in 2014, when i was back for tent: creative writing at the yiddish book center. melissa, your support during my undergrad years was profoundly important. thank you. 11: exterior shot of the yiddish book center, where i got to hear jean valentine read in my fourth year & where i first met @samforbreakfast (during tent) (do we not have any photos together from this time??). 12: @jeffplaysmoog & i attending a wedding of hampshire alums at the yiddish book center in fall 2018. (thankfully this center, the hitchcock center, & the eric carle museum will continue.) 13: with aracelis in los angeles, 2016—at the @boaeditions 40th anniversary event at awp—soon after i found out that boa would be publishing my first book & that we would be pressmates. somehow i don’t have any photos with aracelis from my undergrad. we were too busy talking poetry in emily dickinson hall! 14: after speaking at hampshire commencement in 2022. back when it seemed the college would find a sustainable path forward again. so grateful. so sad.

my first book turned 9 today! happy birthday, Possibilities! can’t believe it’s gonna be 10 next year. thanks to @boaeditions . thanks to everyone who’s supported this book in one way or another. & thanks to @jeffplaysmoog for these photos (mainly in the South Wedge) that together are like a Rochester tourism ad (esp the welcome sign ones lol). i mean the weather today was gorgeous ☀️

if you’re doing 30/30 this national poetry month (why are you doing that to yourself) and need a prompt, here’s one i dreamt up for a delightful little zine of prompts that comes with the latest issue of @andchangepoetry . and the zine is delightfully called “pocket change.” thanks to @kevinbertolero for asking me to contribute—btw i love everything you’re doing with this publication. if you (dear reader) have not yet aquired the latest issue (or better yet, subscribed), you’re missing out. big time. on the gayest magazine out there. $3 for an issue! $16 for a year’s subscription of 4 issues! gay! sad! hot! björk!

third rock from the sun, third book of poems—it just makes sense. my new full-length collection, Quintessential Earthly Activities, will be out next spring with @boaeditions ❤︎ ★ ❤︎ more info soon! swipe for two stunning new pics of our planet taken by the Artemis II astronauts 🌏

happy national poetry month! i’m kicking things off by sharing a poem i’ve been meaning to share for a minute (months lol)—from a recent issue of @unwoven__magazine . the poem is called “Addendum” and it’s a companion piece to a poem called “Of Course It’s on FaceTime That Sam Calls Me a Monster,” but you don’t need to be familiar with that poem to read this one. really, i just wanted to write out that title again. anyway, “Addendum” is about changing my mind about wanting to be understood after having given up on it for a time. i first drafted and worked on this poem during a residency at @cmwritershouse —the book English Through the Ages was one of many wonderful books found there. my thanks to the editors at Unwoven for asking me to contribute and for putting together this shimmering issue ✨✨