iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Here’s an excerpt from my new (prose!) book. It’s from the opening essay, which addresses 兔儿神/the Rabbit God, a queer deity from my home province of Fujian. But really it's a prose poem, an ars poetica, a manifesto. In Cahoots with the Rabbit God is out on Dec. 1. Preorder now: tinyurl.com/4mc6vnjf

DEAR RABBIT GOD,

I don't believe in suffering for one's art. I believe in frolicking for one's art. I believe in eating well for one's art. I believe in farting for one's art. I believe in making beautiful friends for one's art. And making plans with one's friends for one's art, I believe in this utterly. Especially when those friends hold you accountable to making your art, revising your thought, practicing your politics. I believe that my gaysian life is integral to my art and I believe that difference should be embraced, not shunned, not simplified. I believe that poems that love earthly difference alongside or even more than spiritual transcendence are better poems. I believe in falling wildly in love for one's art and for no reason at all. I believe in orgasming for one's art.

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I’ve got a new poem in the September issue of @splitlipthemag.bsky.social. It’s about the daughter my mother always wanted and the sister I dreamt of having.

IN THE FOREST OF MY OWN TEARS I SUDDENLY REMEMBER WANDA

It's the name my mother would've given her daughter if she ever had one instead of yet another son. Wanda.
I used to dream of climbing trees together & playing wizard of the forest together, though not in the forest of my tears.
This was always in the forest of my laughter. Always, despite how sad I got at times that my mother didn't get to have you.
Back then I climbed trees every day. These days I'm lost in the thickets of my phone. The other week I kept missing calls, turns out I forgot to turn off "do not disturb." Eventually I remembered, but couldn't remember how to actually do it, to say, Yes, I want to be disturbed again-by my phone, & by the world, I guess.
Then I googled it, instead of just asking Jeff (I think you would like Jeff), because I didn't want it to be a whole production again, a customer service situation, except between lovers, & I am the worst

customer & the worst lover when trying to figure out my own phone. True, I'm a bit (Jeff would say a lot) of a Luddite. Well, a Luddite who's a screen fiend, & isn't that the perfect storm, wait, is that the right proverb, is it an idiom, I think you would know, Wanda. & now I'm remembering French class, how I adored learning new idiomatic expressions— lifit's Idiomatic Expressions Time! That's what happened in my head. How often I wished, Wanda, that you were at school with me. Say, only a year above me, but wise & capable of forming really cool sentences in French, & you'd never tease me in any language, or just a little, for what went on in my head. & after school we'd race from the bus to our favorite tree, though already we were a tad old to be playing like that, we'd play, we'd climb, we'd take turns being wizard of the forest, & laugh, we'd laugh so vast. At some point in our tree, you'd tell me which boy you liked, if any. Then I'd chime in with which one, or ones I liked. & though I could guess, & now know, thanks to my best friend Sam (you'd like him too), that having sisters can be very complicated, including or especially big sisters,

back then I believed, needed to think that I could tell you every big thing. I could tell my sister, & then it was okay for a while that I couldn't tell anyone else in the family, it was alright because I had you. You, Wanda, & maybe that's sort of what she was thinking, believing, too, in her own forest early mornings or late at night, up in her own magical oak, when my mother was dreaming so hard about you.

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Today marks 4 years of Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency. Happy bday, my unapologetically gay and *thick* second book.

I’m standing in front of a garden with some small trees & many pink flowers. I’m wearing a pale pink hat, dark blue glasses, a floral sweater, & pale pink shorts. I’m holding a copy of my second book.

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

there’s still time to sign up for my upcoming generative workshop on zoom with charlotte lit! ye olde link: charlottelit.configio.com/pd/716/origi...

ORIGIN STORIES
Poems of Self-Discovery

A Master Class with
CHEN CHEN

Tuesday, September 29 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Virtual via Zoom
Register: charlottelit.org/programming

CHARLOTTELIT

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

obsessed with this poem by CAConrad. the empire will tax your soul! I prefer the forests making blankets from themselves!!

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

these few sentences by Linda Gregg teach me more about making poems than many entire craft essays

What matters to me even more than the shapeliness and the dance of language is what the poem discovers deeper down than gracefulness and pleasures in figures of speech. I respond most to what is found out about the heart and spirit, what we can hear through the language. Best of all, of course, is when the language and other means of poetry combine with the meaning to make us experience what we understand.

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

saw the moon & venus with dear ones during sunset in the berkshires and now i know the meaning of life: to see the moon & venus with dear ones during sunset in the berkshires.

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

my book of craft essays is also on the way. here’s the title page (cover reveal soon) ✨

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

looking over proofs of my new book of poems that’ll be out in april ✨✨

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Honored to have a new poem, “An Evening Discussion” in Poem-a-Day. This one’s about homophobia, societal and internalized, and different methods of responding. Also, pimples & Planet Fitness. Also, tenderness. Read without swiping + hear me read it: poets.org/poem/evening...

What if we got a gun? I whispered
from my pillow to you on yours.
I’m so against it in theory, I continued,
but in practice, & these days …
Then I burst, became
a wave of laughter, & you joined me.
We were a tidal giggle. & then I felt a huge
wobble, some cosmic shudders, perhaps from
a god with skin problems
unresolved from adolescence.
Unreleased from adolescence,
childhood, I saw how I was spiritually
still in uncomfortable overalls & overall over
none of it.

You too, it seemed, as what you
then said was, What if
I became a bodybuilder? You said,
you spoke this to me
at normal volume like it was regular info,
like we were at Planet Fitness or in Galaxy
Muscle, not in our bedroom, our bed.
What if, you said, I bodybuilt so good,
so Arnold, to the point of the world turning
totally unhomophobic? Not
a speck of homophobia left, not one
subatomic particle a miserable
homophobe, the whole damn globe,
amazing, right?
& I said, Or I could become a stronger
writer, more cutting
in my musings, more ferocious
in my music?
In bed, in response, you looked at me
fondly, probably the fondest
you’ve ever looked at me, & said, Baby.
You will. But how about we do both?

Both? I asked. Writing & bodybuilding?
Writing, you said, & the gun.

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

highly recommend visiting a used bookstore as often as you can for your mental and aesthetic and spiritual pleasure

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

what do your poems contain? what do they not contain? what can their stomachs digest? where must they swim? how do they cry?

American Poetry
by Louis Simpson

Whatever it is, it must have
A stomach that can digest
Rubber, coal, uranium, moons, poems.

Like the shark it contains a shoe.
It must swim for miles through the desert
Uttering cries that are almost human.

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

are you a poem boy, a book f*ggot, or shrimply poetry?

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

last night at dinner. we were looking forward to eating. then we remembered. we all took the lettuce out of our meals, put it on this extra dish. there was more lettuce than anticipated. it was a solemn moment. a time of reflection & revulsion. we stared at the green mass through the evening.

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

happy Nolan’s The Odyssey release day for all who celebrate. here’s my favorite Odyssey-related contemporary poem, “Telemachus’ Detachment” by Louise Glück.

Telemachus’ Detachment

When I was a child looking
at my parents’ lives, you know
what I thought? I thought
heartbreaking. Now I think
heartbreaking, but also
insane. Also
very funny.

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

thinking about the musicality of a gay sigh

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

it is so important in this life to stop and smell the giant candles at costco

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

thinking about this delightfully furious poem by Mary Ruefle again.

Red

by Mary Ruefle

I fucking depended on you and
you left the fucking wheelbarrow
out and it’s fucking raining
and now the white chickens
are fucking filthy

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

my favorite piece by Duane Michals, rest in peace—

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

new love poem for pride month! big thanks to Queer Poem-A-Day for publishing “Ode to the Profoundly Gay Night We Just Had.” this one’s about a particularly memorable (and hot) anniversary night. you can read it & listen to me read it here: tinyurl.com/yc4yn4j9

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

They don’t know we are becoming powerful. Every time we kiss we confirm the new world coming. * sharing this gorgeous, glorious poem by Essex Hemphill as part of my Pride Month celebration—

In america,
I place my ring
on your cock
where it belongs.
No horsemen
bearing terror,
no soldiers of doom
will swoop in
and sweep us apart.
They’re too busy
looting the land
to watch us.
They don’t know
we need each other
critically.
They expect us to call in sick,
watch television all night,
die by our own hands.
They don’t know
we are becoming powerful.
Every time we kiss
we confirm the new world coming.

What the rose whispers
before blooming
I vow to you.
I give you my heart,
a safe house.
I give you promises other than
milk, honey, liberty.
I assume you will always
be a free man with a dream.
In america,
place your ring
on my cock
where it belongs.
Long may we live
to free this dream.

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

my queer (& probably my best) love poem, “i love you to the moon &” is Poem of the Day on @poetry.foundation today. happy pride!!

i love you to the moon &
BY CHEN CHEN

not back, let’s not come back, let’s go by the speed of
queer zest & stay up
there & get ourselves a little
moon cottage (so pretty), then start a moon garden

with lots of moon veggies (so healthy), i mean
i was already moonlighting
as an online moonologist
most weekends, so this is the immensely

logical next step, are you
packing your bags yet, don’t forget your
sailor moon jean jacket, let’s wear
our sailor moon jean jackets while twirling in that lighter,

queerer moon gravity, let’s love each other
(so good) on the moon, let’s love
the moon
on the moon

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

revisiting this Mary Oliver poem. or it’s revisiting me.

Don’t Hesitate

If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,  don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often  kind. And much can never be redeemed.  Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this  is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything,  but very likely you notice it in the instant  when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the  case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid  of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

a Dickinson poem i might get tattooed.

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Love - is anterior to Life -
Posterior - to Death -
Initial of Creation, and
The Exponent of Earth -

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

so important to coordinate poetry reading outfits with your bestie for your joint poetry reading

sam & i are sitting on a couch in the unreliable narrator, a bookstore in rochester, ny. behind the couch are very full bookcases. sam & i are wearing matching outfits—white faux fur jackets over black tops; sam then wears black pants patterned with a variety of fruits & black boots while i wear black leather shorts & sparkly boots.

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

always completely in love with this poem by Rick Barot

Litany
by Rick Barot

When any word is called for, say that I am of.
When the tornado forms, that is the ruinous
kiss. When the bamboo-green field sways,
think of tea. When the vines thicken in
the heat, this is the medusa head consuming
its own stare. When a man committedly
steps to the ledge, this is the daguerreotype’s
cold glass face. When winter, that is hemlock
prominent. When mirror or letter or echo,
these are correspondences. When the snow
is pink, something has been left motherless.
When singing, think of articulating silences.
When stars, history. When the sword-gray,
fatherly rain, this is I have wandered the earth.

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

obsessed with this poem by Yuki Tanaka

Prognosis at Midnight
by Yuki Tanaka

I listen to the moon but it doesn’t say much about my life.
Quiet night is for my cockatoo. He keeps chattering
until my neighbor comes over to complain. Then I read
a local newspaper: no murder, no robbery, one grandmother
fell down the stairs and broke her hip. I lick my inky fingers
and order my imaginary chauffeur to get ready—I’ll visit her
and comfort her. I’d say, I read about you, I’m terribly sorry,
this is my cockatoo, he’s twelve and loves carrots.
We’d share her hospital dinner and be happy.
Other sick people gather around us, admiring my cockatoo,
who looks proud in his cage, unfurling his light-pink wings
like stage curtains, and I’m his assistant. Grandma,
worried that I’ve become silent, tells me how tired I look.
“I had a series of nightmares,” I say, “my boss returned
from the grave and fired me, bats attacked me like slow bullets
but bigger, I was bleeding.” She says: “When I’m alone,
I paint eyes on a pear and whisper, I’m watching over you.
That makes me stronger.” Back home, my body thin and healthy,
cooling my feet on a crystal ball like a psychic out of business,
I look out the window: I don’t know which leaves will fall first or why.
There aren’t many trees left. Not much is left of this little town.

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

some news: my third full-length book of poems, Quintessential Earthly Activities, will be out next spring with @boa-editions.bsky.social. more info soon! ❤︎

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

37 today and it’s feeling like spring (thank goodness)

it’s sunny out and i’m standing on the sidewalk, wearing a large white coat with green/blue floral print and black chelsea boots

it’s sunny out and i’m celebrating on the sidewalk, my arms raised and showing my bare chest. i’m wearing a large white coat with green/blue floral print, black leather shorts, and black chelsea boots

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

being a poet does sometimes feel magical

i’m standing on a stage, reading from my book. behind me, the windows are decorated with pendant stars & a crescent moon figurine sits in one windowsill. i’m wearing a leopard print coat, black trousers, & red sneakers

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

author copies of LOVE THAT FOR US arrived and i got a bit emotional. my best friend and i wrote a poetry collection together! so proud of us.

i’m sitting in a yellow armchair holding a copy of Love That For Us, a collaborative chapbook with Sam Herschel Wein

i’m sitting in a yellow armchair holding a copy of Love That For Us, a collaborative chapbook with Sam Herschel Wein. i look overcome with emotion in this one

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

happy lunar new year / year of the fire horse 🔥🐎🔥

i’m standing outside & wearing black glasses, a black coat with a checkered pattern on one side, a red shirt with a horse on it, black jeans, & black boots. i’m also carrying a small black leather bag

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

in my favorite sweater for valentine’s soup dumplings

i’m enjoying soup dumplings at a restaurant with dimsum and conveyor belt sushi. i’m wearing black glasses and a light blue sweater with white/red sailboat pattern

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

... Walk through the garden’s dormant splendor. Say only, thank you. Thank you. —Ross Gay

Thank You
by Ross Gay

If you find yourself half naked
and barefoot in the frosty grass, hearing,
again, the earth’s great, sonorous moan that says
you are the air of the now and gone, that says
all you love will turn to dust,
and will meet you there, do not
raise your fist. Do not raise
your small voice against it. And do not
take cover. Instead, curl your toes
into the grass, watch the cloud
ascending from your lips. Walk
through the garden’s dormant splendor.
Say only, thank you.
Thank you.

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

Write into the honey. ... Write into the rain. —Rick Barot

Write into the smudge in the painting where the pink lays into the green. Write into the plush of his lower lip. Write into the light pouring from the oculus above the baroque courtyard. Write into the whippoorwill that sings each morning, bringing in the morning. The two old balloons caught in the branch outside the fourth-floor window. The sky and its gray flannel suit. Write into the person practicing scales but practicing them out of order. Write into the honey. The story he told about the hierarchies of honeybees. The story he told about the man mummified in honey. Write into his white hands. Write into the smell of pomade. Write into the smell of August, a thug of a smell. Write into each trivial but astonishing trick, like roller-skating backwards or snipping thread with your teeth. Write into the rain. Write into its fall, knowing that the only god you can know is gravity.

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

oh! my second book just turned three!! happy third bday, emergency contact!!!

i’m standing outside holding a copy of my second book, Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency. i’m wearing a black cap, black glasses, a black, partially see-thru shirt, black shorts, white socks, & black sneakers. i’m also carrying a small bag with colorful floral design

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

got to read a favorite poem to some adorable farm friends

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 16/08/2025

last night’s reading on this outdoor stage felt extra special. an amphitheater! i always picture big ones, but this amphitheater was so intimate and perfect for poetry

nighttime. i’m standing & reading at a mic on a wooden stage in the middle of an amphitheater. trees tower over the stage. string lights provide soft lighting

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

recent reading fit 🌻 🐶 💙 🌸 🌹

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

i feel like this photo says “june”

i’m sitting at a table after dinner, during golden hour (before sunset). my face looks pretty in the light

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

i looked cute at this podium last night

black & white shot of me adjusting the mic at a podium—at the faculty reading for the pocantico center residency

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

can’t believe this spring marks 10 years since i graduated from my mfa. i faced a lot of difficulty navigating syracuse—& it was also a joyful time. i read a lot. i wrote most of what would become my 1st book. i met my partner (in this pic!), my best friend, & amazing writers i continue to follow

jeff & i, all dressed up, seated at a table at syracuse mfa graduation (actually not my own in 2015, but the previous year’s). look at our baby faces!

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

found my books in the toronto reference library, which is such a gorgeous place (if i lived in toronto i’d want to be here every single day)

i’m standing between the stacks, holding my first and second books. i’m wearing clear frame glasses, a short-sleeved black button-down shirt with gold/white tree pattern, & black jeans

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