Jane Wong
Jane Wong is the author of the debut memoir, Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City, out now from Tin House (2023). She is also the author of two books of poetry: How to Not Be Afraid of Everything from Alice James (2021) and Overpour from Action Books (2016).
She holds an M.F.A. in Poetry from the University of Iowa and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Washington and is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Western Washington University. Her poems can be found in places such as Best American Nonrequired Reading 2019, Best American Poetry 2015, The New York Times, American Poetry Review, POETRY, The Kenyon Review, New England Review, and others. Her essays have appeared in places such as McSweeney’s, Black Warrior Review, Ecotone, The Common, The Georgia Review, Shenandoah, and Want: Women Writing About Desire (Catapult).
CPC Readings
Friday, July 14, 2023
with Alyx Chandler, Ola Faleti, Lisa Low, C. Russell Price, and Luis Tubens
Haymarket House
Watch the reading:
Luis Tubens begins at 12:17 minutes.
Ola Faleti begins at 16:33 minutes.
Lisa Low begins at 21:55 minutes.
C. Russell Price begins at 30:03 minutes.
Alyx Chandler begins at 40:18 minutes.
Jane Wong begins at 55:33 minutes.
Poetry by Jane Wong
My grandmother said it was going to be long—as long as you can hold your lineage—depending on how long you can hold your tongue—as long as your tongue can wrap around the pit—of some stolen stone fruit—as long as you can hide your pitter-patter face—glued in sun-split splinters—lengthening shadows as long as your face—longing to be mirrored back—back to your daughter your mother your grandmother—freckle by freckle—furnished forever across—the long loaming haul—
I was waiting for something
to arrive. I didn’t know what.
Something buoyed, something
sun knocked. I placed my palms
up, little pads of butter, expecting.
All day, nothing. Longer than
that. My hair grew, fell out,
grew. Outside my window, I felt
the flick of a tail in September
wind. A bobcat sauntered across
the grass before me, the black tip
of its tail a pencil I’d like to sharpen.
Learn More
- Watch Jane Wong's 2023 reading at the Chicago Poetry Center Jane Wong begins at 49:52 minutes.:
- Check out Jane Wong's work in "The Poetics of Haunting in Asian American Poetry," a digital humanities project:
- Watch musician Audrey Nuna read Jane Wong's poem “I Put on My Fur Coat” for The New York Times Style Magazine:
- Visit Jane Wong's website