Longlisted for the 2020 National Book Award in Poetry

After her mother died, poet Victoria Chang refused to write elegies. Rather, she distilled her grief during a feverish two weeks by writing scores of poetic obituaries for all she lost in the world. In Obit, Chang writes of "the way memory gets up after someone has died and starts walking." These poems reinvent the form of newspaper obituary to both name what has died ("civility," "language," "the future," "Mother's blue dress") and the cultural impact of death on the living. Whereas elegy attempts to immortalize the dead, an obituary expresses loss, and the love for the dead becomes a conduit for self-expression. In this unflinching and lyrical book, Chang meets her grief and creates a powerful testament for the living.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Copper Canyon Press
Published: 04/07/2020
ISBN: 9781556595745
Pages: 120
Weight: 0.40lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.50w x 0.40d

Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 01/20/2020 pg. 41
Booklist 03/01/2020 pg. 9