Synthetic Jungle

“The poems in Synthetic Jungle work associatively, calling on readers to infer connections among its parts, but are just as likely, perhaps more likely, to move in a dissociative manner, working to disrupt our ability to anticipate. The result is a poetry that is frequently surprising, and whose catalogs acquire a type of force through accumulation. I’m particularly drawn to this poet’s idiomatic voice and pop culture sensibilities. Chang is equally comfortable in conversation with Heidegger or Meet the Fockers, and the poems in Synthetic Jungle feel of our moment and urgent.” —Matthew Olzmann, author of Constellation Route“‘Face down ass up’—thus begins Michael Chang’s raucously intellectual and visceral collection Synthetic Jungle, where the question of how one is, the nature of an ever-changing/changed self, merges with who one can become, a self that in many ways resists existence by hyperexisting (‘Most days I put on a good face, a werewolf’) to absurd and viciously vulnerable limits. At once non-sequitur and scathingly direct, it is because every word is unexpected that every word convinces. A bewildering collection of ache, awe, and rebuttal.” —Phillip B. Williams, author of Mutiny“In this explosively frank collection, Michael Chang tunes their microscope to the textures and terrains of spaces at the intersection of private and social spheres. Here is a visionary moving along the edge of reality and its surreal offerings: the individual self alone with a mind that can’t help but see the world through its interstices. ‘The daunting task of eating an elephant, armed w/ only a spoon,’ Chang writes, and this encapsulates their stunning brand of tongue-in-cheek logic as truth: Chang’s lyric is nothing short of exquisite, full of verve, full of nails.” —Diana Khoi Nguyen, author of Ghost Of

• CHARM AGAINST TOO MANY APPLES . . . 1CADUCITY . . . 2MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER WITH NO MOTIVATION . . . 3YOUR PLACE, OR ANOTHER TRIP TO DEAN & DELUCA . . . 4SINGLES NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM . . . 5SUPPOSEDLY A MORNING PERSON . . . 6WHITE FORD BRONCO . . . 7SOUTHPAW . . . 8POLAR BEARS IN LITTLE ITALY . . . 9BEST BUDDIES, 1990 . . . 10CAVALLI LOUNGE LIZARD . . . 12THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF LOBSTER BISQUE . . . 13RASPUTIN . . . 14UNDERSTUDY . . . 15TEACHER’S PET . . . 16FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD PHILOSOPHER-KING . . . 17MY FOREVER PERSON . . . 19STAR-SHAPED . . . 20FREAKS TO THE FRONT . . . 21POP SHOP II, 1988 . . . 22ST. MARK’S CONFESSIONAL . . . 23MUSCLES . . . 24MENTAIKO . . . 25EQUAL OR LESSER VALUE . . . 26SWIRLING HAUNTED HOUSE . . . 27HOMESCHOOL PROM KING . . . 28HAPPY WARRIOR . . . 29SIX BITS . . . 30SYNTHETIC JUNGLE DIPTYCH . . . 31POEM BEGINNING WITH LINE FROM RILKE . . . 32GLORIA VANDERBILT . . . 33HALF DAY CLOSING . . . 34DO U MIND WE ARE EATING HERE . . . 35WHITE TENNIS SHOES . . . 36DOING BATTLE WITH THE ONE WHO BRINGS FLOWERS . . . 37TWENTY, THIRTY . . . 38TOO GOOD FOR YOU & OTHER STORIES . . . 39ANTISOCIAL SOCIAL CLUB . . . 40NEXT ON THE UPGRADE LIST . . . 41ZUM ZUM . . . 42MY MOTHER SAID I’M TOO ROMANTIC . . . 43LEG OF LAMB . . . 44GIN & MILK . . . 45COCO CHANEL SEARCH & RESCUE . . . 46COLD WAR . . . 47STUDENT-ATHLETE’S COLLEGE RECRUITMENT GUIDE . . . 48U.F.O. & DOLPHIN, 1982 . . . 49THE OVERLY-AGGRESSIVE FORTUNE COOKIE SPEAKS . . . 51NOT SUITABLE . . . 52LIFE IS GOLDEN . . . 53SUEDE KISSES . . . 54UPON HEARING SYLVESTER FOR THE FIRST TIME . . . 55MAX’S KANSAS CITY . . . 56ACCIDENTAL ANARCHIST . . . 57FREE THROW . . . 59CHARLATANS . . . 60SIMPATICO . . . 61JACKET REQUIRED . . . 62ISTANBUL . . . 63WORKING STIFF . . . 64