Tap Into the Voltage of Marilyn Chin’s Poetry

According to W.H. Auden, “A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language”—and few artists encapsulate this adage as fervently as Marilyn Chin. Wild and fierce and potent and surprising, her poetry dances on the page, crackling with vitality. She is a poet who clearly revels in the sheer adoration of her craft, creating poems that are once utterly personal yet universal, irreverent yet celebratory.

Born in Hong Kong and raised in Portland, Oregon, Chin writes poems coloured by a vast spectrum of influences from across her East-West heritage—and beyond. Consequently, the award-winning poet has set a new standard in Asian-American poetry, penning cross-cultural, modern-day classics that have found their way into classrooms across the nation. Along with a novel and numerous volumes of poetry, her achievements include commissions for the New York Philharmonic, the Smith College Museum of Art, and even a Taylor Swift-inspired anthology.

We met with Marilyn the day after her 70th birthday. In person, her enthusiasm for poetry is palpable, her joy irresistibly infectious.

Tell us about Sage, your latest book of poems.

It features Asian influences and transgressive moments. The cover [featuring artwork by Heidi Kumao] looks like a Chinese or Japanese print, but there’s a gynecological chair in the middle. I love throwing little treasures like that into my poems. Poetry should stun and surprise—sometimes beautiful, other times mind-blowing.