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A review by mxunsmiley
When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities by Chen Chen
5.0
Reread this because I've been needing poetry in my life again and Chen Chen's feels so intimate. It's hard to say that because I'd rather not be so strange in my way of trying to describe how poets make me feel, even though it's not an uncommon thing to say about poets' work. "Intimate" doesn't seem to fully encapsulate it, though. I wouldn't say it's like he's a friend because friendship is an altogether extremely complicated thing. Perhaps that's the best way to put it so that people understand but it's not really how I truly feel.
I think the first time I read this collection, I didn't fully appreciate or understand it. I took my time with it now and I can really say it's going to become one of my favorites. There are so many different styles; it's very diverse and fresh. Many of the poems, I had to reread a lot to get the right sense of them, and I love that challenge. I love that he makes himself a bit unknowable on the surface, yet once you get deeper and truly experience the language and feelings he expresses, the sense of accomplishment is mighty. I've really had the wrong idea about contemporary poetry. I do enjoy it, many of the poets I recommend to people are contemporary, but I don't think I've actually appreciated it the way it should be--authentically thought about it, dissected it, just because it may seem more accessible. In fact, I think it can be even less accessible in a way, if you don't accept it at face value. There are so many meanings, styles, experiences. Chen Chen has changed the way I see contemporary poetry and made me want to reread a lot of the collections I have read relatively recently.
Lines like "Aren't all great love stories, at their core, great mistakes?" and the finality of "Do I have to forgive in order to love?" phrases like "my inexplicable & elephant sadness" and "I am making my loneliness small" are all sticking with me eternally it seems like. I'll be thinking about this for a while, going back to it frequently because as I said, it's probably going to become one of my favorites. Now I can't stand the wait for his next poetry collection... not for a whole 'nother year.
I think the first time I read this collection, I didn't fully appreciate or understand it. I took my time with it now and I can really say it's going to become one of my favorites. There are so many different styles; it's very diverse and fresh. Many of the poems, I had to reread a lot to get the right sense of them, and I love that challenge. I love that he makes himself a bit unknowable on the surface, yet once you get deeper and truly experience the language and feelings he expresses, the sense of accomplishment is mighty. I've really had the wrong idea about contemporary poetry. I do enjoy it, many of the poets I recommend to people are contemporary, but I don't think I've actually appreciated it the way it should be--authentically thought about it, dissected it, just because it may seem more accessible. In fact, I think it can be even less accessible in a way, if you don't accept it at face value. There are so many meanings, styles, experiences. Chen Chen has changed the way I see contemporary poetry and made me want to reread a lot of the collections I have read relatively recently.
Lines like "Aren't all great love stories, at their core, great mistakes?" and the finality of "Do I have to forgive in order to love?" phrases like "my inexplicable & elephant sadness" and "I am making my loneliness small" are all sticking with me eternally it seems like. I'll be thinking about this for a while, going back to it frequently because as I said, it's probably going to become one of my favorites. Now I can't stand the wait for his next poetry collection... not for a whole 'nother year.