PIOTR FLORCZYK
Obit: Poems
by Victoria Chang
Copper Canyon Press, 2020
$17.00 (paper)
I’ve never asked myself what I would say about either of my parents—who, for the record, are still alive—if given the task of composing his or her obituary. Would I mention their professional accomplishments? Or the dreams they had, including the ones that never came true? How about something about the vacations we took to the lake south of Krakow when I was growing up? Looking back on someone’s life, one inevitably reexamines his own, both as the person who had shared their life with the deceased and as the person who’s suddenly been barred from enjoying that experience ever again. Grief can be so overpowering precisely because it swallows up everything in its path.
is Chang’s fi fth collection. She started out, as many poets do, by writing quiet lyrics. In deftly composed couplets, she examined the life and published in 2005, is how the poems embody a perfect mix of the poet’s sweeping gaze, which is necessary to tackle broad themes, and her attention to detail. Here’s an example of Chang’s technique, from the poem “At Lake Michigan”:
