Jennifer Chang

Jennifer Chang investigates patriarchy, violence, and grief with an unwavering eye, a powerful voice, and a boundless heart. Sprawling yet urgent, probing yet assured, the poems in Jennifer Chang's An Authentic Life offer a bold examination of a world deeply influenced by war and patriarchy. In dialogues against literature, against philosophy, and against God, Chang interrogates the "fathers" who stand at the center of history. Poems navigate wounds opened by explorations of family and generational trauma, and draw on the author's experiences as a mother, as the daughter of immigrants, and as a citizen of our deeply divided nation. Here, the patriarchal violence of history becomes intimate, brought down to a domestic scale. A woman sweeping the floor cannot escape thoughts of war, or her dying mother. In "A Conversation Between Women," friends sip wine and question the "despite-ness" of love and marriage. In poems where the lyric is reimagined and burst open, Chang fearlessly confronts the patriarchal systems and teachings that once held power. Meticulous and masterful, An Authentic Life seeks a world where women can begin "to unlearn everything," to reclaim our voices and autonomy and speak.

Chang's poems narrate grief and loss, and intertwines them with hope for a fresh start in the midst of new beginnings. With topics such as frustration with our social and natural world, these poems openly question the self and place and how private experiences like motherhood and sorrow necessitate a deeper engagement with public life and history. From "The Winter's Wife" I want wild roots to prosper an invention of blooms, each unknown to every wise gardener. If I could be a color. If I could be a question of tender regard. I know crabgrass and thistle. I know one algorithm: it has nothing to do with repetition or rhythm. It is the route from number to number (less to more, more to less), a map drawn by proof not faith. Unlike twilight, I do not conclude with darkness. I conclude.

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This debut collection of vivid, lyrical poems explores the emotional landscape of childhood without confession and without straightforward narrative. Chang sweeps together myth and fairy tale, skirting the edges of events to focus on the psychological tenor of experience: the underpinnings of identity and the role of nature in both constructing and erasing a self. From the edge of the ocean, where things constantly shift and dissolve, through "the forest's thick, / where the trees meet the dark," to an imaginary cliffside town of fog, this book makes a journey both natural and psychological, using experiments in language and form to capture the search for personhood and place.