Victoria Chang

Victoria Chang (1970-  ) reinvigorates language by way of concentration, using constraint to illuminate and free the wild interior. Largely composed in various Japanese syllabic forms called “wakas.” The haiku derived from an older, but still popular poetic form, the waka, which had been used for a thousand years before the haiku. The word waka means ‘Japanese poem,’ and it is a form so basic to Japanese literature that Japanese still study and write it today. It is also known by the name tanka, which means ‘short poem.’ Victoria has earned a BA in Asian studies from the University of Michigan, an MA in Asian studies from Harvard University, an MBA from Stanford University, and an MFA from the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers. She has also won numerous awards and a Guggenheim fellowship. Victoria lives and teaches in southern California.

Words

I struck a bargain

with language. That I would not

abuse it or sell it, that

I would use it for beauty. In exchange I will

die, while words live forever.

— Victoria Chang