MICHAEL CHANG
BAND OF OUTSIDERS
The Empress is kind ;
like Yoko Ono ; sent to a farm upstate ;
my trauma stems from being too excellent ;
I wrote abt Lukas Gage getting rimmed & then he came out ;
I believe that is causation / wish fulfillment ;
an instance being the jacket crimson with use ; rich & lush & tinged with exactly the kind of
Americana that made Ralph Lauren (born one Ralph Lifshitz) a global star ;
capable of guiding its wearer thru any ensuing adversity / struggle with an almost mythical quality ;
the KMT patches & slight crop suggesting its wearer ready to tackle challenges in this new era ;
its borderline effeminacy promising new perspectives (!) without sacrificing hotblooded principle ;
to vanquish enemies in style ;
buy COBRA MILK™ !!!
available at most major retailers ;
48 contiguous states & D.C. only ;
other restrictions may apply
like Yoko Ono ; sent to a farm upstate ;
my trauma stems from being too excellent ;
I wrote abt Lukas Gage getting rimmed & then he came out ;
I believe that is causation / wish fulfillment ;
an instance being the jacket crimson with use ; rich & lush & tinged with exactly the kind of
Americana that made Ralph Lauren (born one Ralph Lifshitz) a global star ;
capable of guiding its wearer thru any ensuing adversity / struggle with an almost mythical quality ;
the KMT patches & slight crop suggesting its wearer ready to tackle challenges in this new era ;
its borderline effeminacy promising new perspectives (!) without sacrificing hotblooded principle ;
to vanquish enemies in style ;
buy COBRA MILK™ !!!
available at most major retailers ;
48 contiguous states & D.C. only ;
other restrictions may apply
PITY THE NATION
one time i saw this editor at an opening
sounding like someone delivering a book report
w/o having done the reading
making no sense
looking like chicken fat in a trash bag
somehow melting
somewhat motionless
his wife feeding him
parfait spoon
starkist chicken
nothing is sacred
maybe listening
sounding like someone delivering a book report
w/o having done the reading
making no sense
looking like chicken fat in a trash bag
somehow melting
somewhat motionless
his wife feeding him
parfait spoon
starkist chicken
nothing is sacred
maybe listening
TENDER IDOLS
i don’t want to rock the boat
refuse to do anything
that could disrupt
this uneasy peace
we’re both trying
some days better than others
i’ve spent all my tenderness
we’ll see what happens
butcher stripes red-white
like a snarl
MICHAEL CHANG (they/them) is the author of THINGS A BRIGHT BOY CAN DO (Coach House Books, 2025) and HEROES (Temz Review/845 Press, 2026). They won the Poetry Project's Brannan Prize and edited Lambda Literary's Emerge anthology. Their work has appeared in such publications as AGNI, the American Poetry Review, the Greensboro Review, Harvard Review, the Iowa Review, and POETRY. They judged Cream City Review's 2025 Prize in Poetry. They live in Manhattan.