Synthetic Jungle: Poems

A new poetry collection from award-winning author Michael Chang

A vital breath of life arrives in American poetry with Synthetic Jungle, the latest collection from acclaimed poet Michael Chang. With poems in a register both hilarious and scathing, Synthetic Jungle effortlessly bashes convention while simultaneously rebuilding the language we use to communicate our fears and joys.

Synthetic Jungle is a collection written by a brilliant jester who winks at you as you catch their every reference before sharing a laugh at your own self-satisfaction. Themes of identity, sexuality, and literacy play out in a dizzying rhythm of microtheaters. Readers will find themselves giggling, snorting, and guffawing their way through this work: whether at a repudiation of the literary landscape or a critique of a failing justice system, to laugh along with Chang is to recognize your mistakes and, ultimately, grow from them.

Fractal and kinetic in the quick-witted spirit of John Ashbery and Emily Dickinson, Chang's tender poems dance around, between, and through the personal and philosophical. Synthetic Jungle is as sweet as it is grand, and beneath its sarcastic grin reverberates an immense, open heart.


Publisher: Curbstone Press
Published: 03/15/2023
Pages: 104
Weight: 2.38lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.91w x 0.39d
ISBN: 9780810146211

About the Author
MICHAEL CHANG (they/them) is the author of several collections of poetry, including Boyfriend Perspective and Almanac of Useless Talents. Their poems have been nominated for Best New Poets, Best of the Net, and the Pushcart Prize. They were awarded the Poetry Project's prestigious Brannan Prize in 2021. Tapped to edit Lambda Literary's Emerge anthology, they serve as a poetry editor at the acclaimed journal Fence.