Location: 157 Winslow Way E., Bainbridge Island, WA 98110 | Map Hours: 10am-6pm daily | Phone: (206) 842-5332
Emily Dickinson once wrote, "If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry." That's exactly how I feel about Victoria Chang's work in this slim volume. Each poem is an impossible beautiful grief. Giving homage to W.S Merwin and drawing on Japanese syllabic forms, Chang skillfully shapes the shadows of trees and departed mothers into new language. ~Carrie
— From Carrie
These poems, many written in Japanese syllabic forms, are like little wishing stones for your mind to hold and smooth over. Fans of Neruda's Book of Questions will love this. Perfect for dipping into during quiet moments of the day. ~Erin
— From Our Favorite Reads of 2022A lover of strict form, best-selling poet Victoria Chang turns to compact Japanese waka, powerfully innovating on tradition while continuing her pursuit of one of life's hardest questions: how to let go.
In The Trees Witness Everything, Victoria Chang reinvigorates language by way of concentration, using constraint to illuminate and free the wild interior. Largely composed in various Japanese syllabic forms called "wakas," each poem is shaped by pattern and count. This highly original work innovates inside the lineage of great poets including W.S. Merwin, whose poem titles are repurposed as frames and mirrors for the text, stitching past and present in complex dialogue. Chang depicts the smooth, melancholic isolation of the mind while reaching outward to name--with reverence, economy, and whimsy--the ache of wanting, the hawk and its shadow, our human urge to hide the minute beneath the light.