Chen Chen
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Identity Pangs
Who are we? What do we want? Who do we want? Sometimes our biggest struggle is figuring out who we are and where we are going. Our longest journey is finding and then loving ourselves. Learning to accept where we came from, appreciating it and then moving on. These poems help weave a delicate wave of confusion, sexuality, acceptance, observation, and understanding. Identity is a crucial human experience, learning be who we are and then sharing it with others and the world.
View playlistPoems of Body Positivity
These poems are of the body, toward body positivity. They acknowledge what many other poems hide, and they often times celebrate it. “Years ago, a teacher said never to use the word ‘poop’ in a poem,” writes Chen Chen just after the speaker of his poem “Winter” describes “smelly bowel movements.” This is not a poem that approaches this subject matter to shock or startle the reader; instead the poem makes a case for the whole embodied experience, from the labor of excretions to the tenderness of queer love. Morgan Parker demands autonomy, and Katie Condon develops a enraptured reverence for a woman’s body. Jenny Johnson invokes the desired self-image, Nicole Sealey candidly shares details of one’s bodily experience relevant to medical professionals, and sam sax celebrates a butt plug, whereas Rachel McKibbens explores an early sexual experience. These poems call the body forth, insist that it “Come glistening” into the light.
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