BPR 53 | 2026
JOHNSON: Not a lot of people know that aside from poetry and nonfiction, you’re also an accomplished author of two middle-grade novels. One of the things I love most about your writing is the different forms it takes, both on the page and in its approach to different themes. And in your most recent book of poetry, With My Back to the World—an ekphrastic book in conversation with the artwork and writings of Agnes Martin—there are also your illustrations paired with some of the poems. Can you discuss what draws you to poetry? As someone who practices many forms of writing and creating, what do you love about poetry and what keeps you writing it?
CHANG: I was thinking about a Donald Hall quote about poetry where he says a poem is “one inside talking to another inside.” I think poetry goes so deeply into the caverns of one’s interiors that sometimes it’s hard to imagine ever coming out. But then with poetry, our souls hitch a ride on language, and I imagine the soul barely hanging onto the tails of language, and then somehow there’s a transference where our souls enter another interior, and this feels very beautiful and essential, beautifully essential.
That depth of reaching in poetry, as well as that connection with another inner soul, is what draws me to poetry. I keep writing poems because it’s the only way I know how to live in this world. Poetry sometimes feels like the only way to communicate about certain things. I’m also attracted to the unknown of poetry, the fact that we are using language to describe the unknown, and silence is so intriguing.
But to properly answer your question, I think I like to do a lot of things, probably too many things. In the realm of writing alone, I love writing poetry, but I also really enjoy writing creative nonfiction and novels (especially for children). I would also love to write an adult novel, and I love writing poetry criticism and essays about poetry. I also love visual art, drawing, making things with thread and needle, paper arts, calligraphy, and so much more. I could do a ton of other things if I had one-hundred hours in a day, but obviously I don’t. My interests just tend to be wide, sometimes too wide.
