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 go.
In The Trees Witness Everything, Victoria Chang reinvigorates language by way of concentration, using constraint to illuminate and free the wild interior. Largely composed in various Japanese syllabic forms called 'wakas,' each poem is shaped by pattern and count. This highly original work innovates inside the lineage of great poets including W.S. Merwin, whose poem titles are repurposed as frames and mirrors for the text, stitching past and present in complex dialogue. Chang depicts the smooth, melancholic isolation of the mind while reaching outward to name - with reverence, economy and whimsy - the ache of wanting, the hawk and its shadow, our human urge to hide the minute beneath the light.
| ISBN: | 9781472157454 |
| Publication date: | 5th May 2022 |
| Author: | Victoria Chang |
| Publisher: | Corsair an imprint of Little, Brown |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 128 pages |
| Genres: |
Poetry by form: Tanka Poetry |
A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF 2022'Impeccable, precise poems, sometimes shocking and strange, but always startling' Irish TimesA 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 go.In The Trees Witness Everything, Victoria Chang reinvigorates language by way of concentration, using constraint to illuminate and free the wild interior. Largely composed in various Japanese syllabic forms called 'wakas,' each poem is shaped by pattern and count.
The Trees Witness Everything features in the following genres: Poetry by form: Tanka, Poetry
Paperback. £9.89, down from the £10.99 cover price. In Stock.
The Trees Witness Everything was written by Victoria Chang and published by Corsair an imprint of Little, Brown
The Trees Witness Everything has 128 pages
£9.89, reduced from £10.99. In Stock.