removal of schmutz from sentence factory
explaining my lateness in puberty
accidental nearness of danny
triggering erection (or insight ?)
bodies to be cruised, bathhouse of the book
photographs where u do see the dick
name-dropping, passionate reclamation
lucie called the word hoard
which i endearingly misheard as ‘word whore’ (i am)
since john stuart mill wrote that
eloquence is heard, but poetry is overheard
i’m always listening from the other room
emerging only w/ the perspective of a fan
lodged in fantasy
that peripatetic quality
to be fisted by wayne’s glove
representing my oriental culture, a retro glance
hejinian’s form not a fixture but an activity
(is dodie bellamy the R-rated dottie lasky ?)
that girl’s prodigious ass, sore
as james joyce said, of beckett’s work
it isn’t ‘abt’ something, it is that something
isn’t it, yeats’s byzantium
a great candidate for worship
b/c he taps my themes
‘ticks’ my boxes
blossoming office romance
nipped in the bud
for homosexual or other reason
diving into wreck
the soft merman
ban on coworker sex
shared body wash
debbie harry royalties
bolstering primal staring
provincial transportation secretary
‘can’t guarantee safety’
promising further bangs
fossil poetry written by karens (?)
w/ a pervert’s balls of steel
rumpled editor slamming poet’s playing
across thresholds
unaddressed desire, guadalajara
state of absence, san josé
off for a gambol, lower east side
i went wherever i [was] wanted
when they asked james tate if he had a dog
he said: i don’t know
sometimes i hold it
the way i hold my dick
the way my head hangs in class
the metaphors are not subtle
sir elton screeches: my plane is waiting !
tenn williams, on plane, in 1954:
‘debating whether or not i should take a pinkie now . . .
have decided to take the pinkie in 5 mins . . .
never again take a plane w/o full bottle [of scotch] on me’
secondment ?
the obamas didn’t have to choose
nobody made them select
this azn anthology stained by potato chip
u want a trophy for dat ?
MICHAEL CHANG (they/them) is the author of THINGS A BRIGHT BOY CAN DO (Coach House, 2025) and HEROES (Temz Review/845 Press, 2026). In 2026, they serve as an AWP Writer-to-Writer Mentor. They live in Manhattan. You can also find them in petrichor twenty-six.
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