When I grow up I want to be a list of further possibilities /
Chen, Chen,1989-author.
Brown, Jericho,writer of foreword,compiler.
Bemis/Flaherty Collection of Gay Poetry.WU
"In this ferocious and tender debut, Chen Chen investigates inherited forms of love and family -- the strained relationship between a mother and son, the cost of necessary goodbyes -- all from Asian American, immigrant, and queer perspectives. Holding all accountable, this collection fully embraces the loss, grief, and abundant joy that come with charting one's own path in identity, life, and love. When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities. To be a season of laughter when my father says his coworker is like that, he can tell because the guy wears pink socks, see, you don't, so you can't, you can't be one of them. To be the one my parents raised me to be. A season from the stormiest planet. A very good feeling with a man. Every feeling, in pink shoes. Every step, hot pink."--
Self-portrait as so much potential -- I'm not a religious person but -- In the hospital -- Summer was forever -- Race to the tree -- West of Schenectady -- Self-portrait with & without -- First light -- How I become sagacious -- Elegy -- Please take off your shoes before entering, do not disturb -- Song with a lyric from Allen Ginsberg -- Talented human beings -- To the Guanacos at the Syracuse Zoo -- Elegy for my sadness -- Ode to my envy -- Irreducible sociality -- Antarctica -- Second thoughts on a winter afternoon -- In the city -- The Cuckoo cry -- Didier et Zizou -- Kafka's axe & Michael's vest -- Poem -- In search of the least abandoned constellation -- If I should die tomorrow, please note that I will miss the particular -- Frog-hopping gravestones -- Sorrow song with Optimus Prime -- For I will do/undo what was done/undone to me -- In this economy -- Night falls like a button -- Things stuck in other things where they don't belong -- Song of the night's gift -- Chapter VIII -- Nature poem -- Where I grow up I want to be a list of further possibilities -- For I will consider my boyfriend Jeffrey -- Babel & juice -- Song of the anti-sisyphus -- Talking to God about Heaven from the bed of a heathen -- Elegy to be exaled at dusk -- Spell to find family -- Little song -- Poem in noisy mouthfuls -- Poplar street.
"In this ferocious and tender debut, Chen Chen investigates inherited forms of love and family -- the strained relationship between a mother and son, the cost of necessary goodbyes -- all from Asian American, immigrant, and queer perspectives. Holding all accountable, this collection fully embraces the loss, grief, and abundant joy that come with charting one's own path in identity, life, and love. When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities. To be a season of laughter when my father says his coworker is like that, he can tell because the guy wears pink socks, see, you don't, so you can't, you can't be one of them. To be the one my parents raised me to be. A season from the stormiest planet. A very good feeling with a man. Every feeling, in pink shoes. Every step, hot pink."--
A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize, 2016.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 89-90).
Asian Americans
Immigrants
Gays
Families
Identity (Psychology)