Victoria Chang Quotes
Most people are trying to go digital, and trying to do different things with poetry. McSweeney's is going in the opposite direction - going more classic, and retro, which is all coming back.
I think my brain is full of collisions and that's how I like to read and process information. I'm always comparing things and I think I do that subconsciously when I'm reading books of poetry.
I think I love humor in poetry, but not that slapstick cheap easy humor, but that uncomfortable, "did she say that out loud?" kind of humor.
It took me awhile to not be ashamed to be a poet in the business environment, and to be a business person in the poet environment.
I think e-mail and social media and all that has made me feel way less isolated than ever before.
I feel like I give myself all day long to other people and other things, and I still seem like I have something to write once in awhile. Not often, though.
There's an attraction to emotional clusters or hypocrisies or awkwardness. A desire to expose something or point at something that's already poking out.
I think my way of being "funny" is just saying things that people think but have learned not to say, whereas, I haven't learned not to say them.
I am always reading, always, and tons of things at once. I wouldn't say I'm a voracious reader, though. I never finish books that fast, because I'm always reading so many things at once.
I can't help but go against the grain, I suppose it is in my fabric to be a rule-breaker.
Everyone always says that having kids is messy and sloppy. It's true, but you as a parent have to try to bring some boundaries and control over that experience, or you'd have out-of-control kids.
I've always felt alone and isolated, and living on the West Coast, there's no poetry community out here, and if there is, it's really spread out - because it's LA, it's spread out.
There's so much stuff being written! Every year, how many books come out? I can't keep up, and I read a lot. It's amazing.
Having children can be such a gift, but it can be a crushing experience for a certain kind of mom. And I am that certain kind of mom.
My gut was always that if I taught students poetry, I would give too much of myself to them and have nothing left.
The whole process of getting a book published is just part of the process. The last of the process that I enjo
I definitely have favorite books by favorite poets, but poets' books also vary. I could like some books, but not like another book.
I've read a lot more than most of the people that I know, except for one of my really close friends reads way more than I do.
I've always just liked writing poetry, but it's much later that I've discovered that there's this whole poetry world out there, that you almost have to be accepted into, like this little club.
I do think that given my background as a poet, and also I work in a different field, you're sort of neither here nor there.
I've never thought about the con of living in New York as a writer. Because I always think, Oh, what fun to be around so many writers. Because I've never been around so many writers.
We're all just a part of this large, spiraling, constantly fluid hierarchy and changing. At some points in your life, you feel crushed by that, depending on who you come in contact with.
My life all-around is really different than a lot of other poets. Not poets that are parents, too, but just that I can hardly find anyone who works in the industries that I've worked in.
I've always done things that were good for me, whether they were viewed as being as prestigious or whatever.
As I published books, I realized, that's not really what I want. I don't care about the books as much anymore. I just want to write poetry.
