CHEN CHEN
Chen Chen is the author of two books of poetry, Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency and When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities, both published by BOA Editions. He teaches for the low-residency MFA programs at New England College, Stonecoast, and Antioch.
tonight, i am the worst queer—i hate longing, detest
yearning. right now, i am the worst queer poet
Poems are the opposite of habits. They are explosions. Sometimes they are small explosions. But loud. Or huge, quiet explosions. I don’t know. I want to keep not knowing. Maybe that’s the tradition I’m writing out of: Not Knowing. Though I also believe I’m writing out of a queer, Asian American tradition that’s equal parts political and sensual. Also, funny.
April 28, 2024
