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Past Lives, Future Bodies
In her debut short collection, poet Kristin Chang bursts onto the page and into our consciousness like a dazzling, dizzying uproar: "I suck / until my teeth riot / with rot & I have nothing / left in my mouth to keep / quiet." Quiet Chang's speakers are not. In these nineteen poems, the body is personal and communal, hunter and hunted: "My mother says / women who sleep with women / are redundant: the body symmetrical / to its crime. Between your knees / I mistake need for belief / in a father figure: once, we renamed / our fathers by burning them / out of our bodies, smoking the sky / into meat."
PAST LIVES, FUTURE BODIES is a knife-sharp and nimble examination of migration, motherhood, and the malignant legacies of racism. In this collection, family forms both a unit of survival and a framework for history, agency, and recovery. Chang undertakes a visceral exploration of the historical and unfolding paths of lineage and what it means to haunt body and country. These poems traverse not only the circularity of trauma but the promise of regeneration—what grows from violence and hatches from healing—as Chang embodies each of her ghosts and invites the specter to speak.
"Kristin Chang wields the line break like a sword cutting through dimensions of reality and language. Each break offers another surprise gut-punch or gutting grace on the other side as these fiercely sharp poems turn and turn, Chang never faltering to rise to the occasion of these blood-filled verses. Chang, quite simply, can write her ass off. I read these poems and I feel like I'm discovering poetry all over again. Chang makes a spell rise from every wound, and I'm caught all the way up in this magic. Kristin Chang is one of the best emerging writers out there, and this chapbook is one step into a career we will all be transformed by. PAST LIVES, FUTURE BODIES couldn't be a better way to be introduced to your new favorite poet. It's Kristin's world, thank God we're reading in it."—Danez Smith
"Kristin Chang's PAST LIVES, FUTURE BODIES is full of mouths swallowing food, language, home, memory, and bodily desires to finally arrive at explosive demonstrations of what happens when the unspeakable is uttered and shouted. Each poem shows the process of turning a painful reflection on history, sexuality, race, family, and nation into a prismatic object of beauty. We are lucky to witness Chang's use of silence as a productive narrative frame."—Emily Jungmin Yoon
"In PAST LIVES, FUTURE BODIES, Kristin Chang's knotty examination into the complexities of intergenerational relationships, we come to understand the fraught nature of both the known and the unknown. These meditations on family, pain, and the ways we communicate untangle the threads of what it means to love those who have hurt us. Chang writes, 'Every language has different / words for the same want,' and the poems in this collection stunningly reveal those words and leave us wanting for more."—Eloisa Amezcua
PAST LIVES, FUTURE BODIES is a knife-sharp and nimble examination of migration, motherhood, and the malignant legacies of racism. In this collection, family forms both a unit of survival and a framework for history, agency, and recovery. Chang undertakes a visceral exploration of the historical and unfolding paths of lineage and what it means to haunt body and country. These poems traverse not only the circularity of trauma but the promise of regeneration—what grows from violence and hatches from healing—as Chang embodies each of her ghosts and invites the specter to speak.
"Kristin Chang wields the line break like a sword cutting through dimensions of reality and language. Each break offers another surprise gut-punch or gutting grace on the other side as these fiercely sharp poems turn and turn, Chang never faltering to rise to the occasion of these blood-filled verses. Chang, quite simply, can write her ass off. I read these poems and I feel like I'm discovering poetry all over again. Chang makes a spell rise from every wound, and I'm caught all the way up in this magic. Kristin Chang is one of the best emerging writers out there, and this chapbook is one step into a career we will all be transformed by. PAST LIVES, FUTURE BODIES couldn't be a better way to be introduced to your new favorite poet. It's Kristin's world, thank God we're reading in it."—Danez Smith
"Kristin Chang's PAST LIVES, FUTURE BODIES is full of mouths swallowing food, language, home, memory, and bodily desires to finally arrive at explosive demonstrations of what happens when the unspeakable is uttered and shouted. Each poem shows the process of turning a painful reflection on history, sexuality, race, family, and nation into a prismatic object of beauty. We are lucky to witness Chang's use of silence as a productive narrative frame."—Emily Jungmin Yoon
"In PAST LIVES, FUTURE BODIES, Kristin Chang's knotty examination into the complexities of intergenerational relationships, we come to understand the fraught nature of both the known and the unknown. These meditations on family, pain, and the ways we communicate untangle the threads of what it means to love those who have hurt us. Chang writes, 'Every language has different / words for the same want,' and the poems in this collection stunningly reveal those words and leave us wanting for more."—Eloisa Amezcua
36 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
November 17, 2019
The line breaks consistently left me GASPING. What an incredible collection!!
October 24, 2021
This is a collection that I have already read twice, but one that I know I will be coming back to many more times. As with all good poetry, I want to absorb Chang’s words and let them steep in me; there is so much depth and missed meaning that I think I lost during my first read. This collection is vibrant and vividly imagined, and I think Chang’s mastery of language really shines—and strengthens the theme of language explored in this collection. The line breaks are without a doubt one of the strongest points of this collection; each new line turned the previous into something completely new and had me in awe.
These poems all stood out, connected with their overarching exploration of family, of motherhood and fathers, of the past and the future, of countries and bodies. However, if I were to choose a few of my favorite poems, they would without a doubt be “Symmetry,” which was the first of Chang’s poems and work that I ever read, along with “Yilan,” “Closet Space,” and “I Take My Mother to the Hospital.”
These poems all stood out, connected with their overarching exploration of family, of motherhood and fathers, of the past and the future, of countries and bodies. However, if I were to choose a few of my favorite poems, they would without a doubt be “Symmetry,” which was the first of Chang’s poems and work that I ever read, along with “Yilan,” “Closet Space,” and “I Take My Mother to the Hospital.”
November 20, 2022
incredible collection
December 10, 2018
Kristin Chang connects language to the various themes/elements in this chapbook (race, the body, queerness, family) in a mesmerizing way....languid and dizzying and assertive all at once. I can't remember the last time I read an emerging poet with such a strong voice. Looking forward to her future work.
April 5, 2019
5 stars on some, 4 stars on most. I round up for poetry collections as long as there were multiple poems I thoroughly enjoyed, even if it isn't majority. My favorite poem was actually the last poem. I loved the pace of it--it had such a cool beat.
The 5 star poems for me were the ones about things her mother and grandmother told her. 4.5 star poems were the ones about men taking things from women. The 3-4 star poems were the ones mostly about her sexuality. I don't mind the element and she executed it well, I just can't resonate with her. I should be able to at least resonate with her on the passion of wanting to be understood by her parents, even if my need to be understood is different and not so much a need. They just came up a little short for me. I found I liked the pacing of the other poems better.
All in all, I would love to read from Kristin Chang in the future. This was a really great collection!
The 5 star poems for me were the ones about things her mother and grandmother told her. 4.5 star poems were the ones about men taking things from women. The 3-4 star poems were the ones mostly about her sexuality. I don't mind the element and she executed it well, I just can't resonate with her. I should be able to at least resonate with her on the passion of wanting to be understood by her parents, even if my need to be understood is different and not so much a need. They just came up a little short for me. I found I liked the pacing of the other poems better.
All in all, I would love to read from Kristin Chang in the future. This was a really great collection!
Want to Read
June 15, 2021this is going to kill me when I read it, i just know it
January 16, 2024
MOTHERRR!!! So explosive so powerful so raw. NEEDS TO BE STUDIED
February 11, 2024
LOVE LOVE LOVE. DOUBLE LOVE.
this is surreal and edgy af. I am so enchanted with the way Chang phrases things and surprises readers with her language. There is so much “in your face” imagery. Def not for the faint of heart but damn I am in awe.
this is surreal and edgy af. I am so enchanted with the way Chang phrases things and surprises readers with her language. There is so much “in your face” imagery. Def not for the faint of heart but damn I am in awe.
October 26, 2018
“No smoke without a fire / to feed. No daughter / without a dad to knead, to beat / into batter & fry / gold with my touch.”
August 9, 2024
I feel self conscious about the language I use trying to describe poetry. I am trying to treat it more comfortably and worry less about whether my reactions are “right” or I understood it perfectly.
This book feels like it would lend itself to some brilliant literary genius trying to describe it.
For me, it felt breathless. Like there is so much going on and it is so powerful that even a line break is not enough to recover.
The structure of these poems blows me away. I got to one poem, I think called closet space, and the part of me that is afraid of not being an expert panicked because I didn’t know which direction to read it. Four columns marched down two pages. Do you read across or down or a little of both? I tried all the directions I could think of and each was its own poem that made sense and seemed intentional, related to the other ways of reading but not identical to them. I can only conclude that the poem is all those readings, and I wonder how the author did it.
There is so much talk of blood and earth and childbirth that it all feels elemental. The details are specific but the overall effect is timeless and large, like a deity. I don’t know which parts are true and which are folklore and therefore it is all true.
I’m sure I did not read this perfectly and there are things I didn’t understand, but I understand enough to know how good it is. It makes me want to learn.
This book feels like it would lend itself to some brilliant literary genius trying to describe it.
For me, it felt breathless. Like there is so much going on and it is so powerful that even a line break is not enough to recover.
The structure of these poems blows me away. I got to one poem, I think called closet space, and the part of me that is afraid of not being an expert panicked because I didn’t know which direction to read it. Four columns marched down two pages. Do you read across or down or a little of both? I tried all the directions I could think of and each was its own poem that made sense and seemed intentional, related to the other ways of reading but not identical to them. I can only conclude that the poem is all those readings, and I wonder how the author did it.
There is so much talk of blood and earth and childbirth that it all feels elemental. The details are specific but the overall effect is timeless and large, like a deity. I don’t know which parts are true and which are folklore and therefore it is all true.
I’m sure I did not read this perfectly and there are things I didn’t understand, but I understand enough to know how good it is. It makes me want to learn.
March 8, 2023
'Every language has different words for the same
want. I name you the body
of water my thirst is native to.
When I kiss you, I remember
every silence begins inside a mouth.'
'Night is our city's
shroud. Grief our
gasoline. Say heaven
is the sky with sleeves
our size. Say ghost
is the girl still missing
from me.'
Some of my favourites are 'Closet Space','Symmetry', 'Anchor baby' and 'Lessons from my Grandmother'; and of course special shoutout to her poem 'Churching' which was not included in this chapbook but is her most known with this:
'I'll be someone else's
god. Godhood is just
like girhood:
a begging to be believed.'
want. I name you the body
of water my thirst is native to.
When I kiss you, I remember
every silence begins inside a mouth.'
'Night is our city's
shroud. Grief our
gasoline. Say heaven
is the sky with sleeves
our size. Say ghost
is the girl still missing
from me.'
Some of my favourites are 'Closet Space','Symmetry', 'Anchor baby' and 'Lessons from my Grandmother'; and of course special shoutout to her poem 'Churching' which was not included in this chapbook but is her most known with this:
'I'll be someone else's
god. Godhood is just
like girhood:
a begging to be believed.'
September 11, 2019
I really, really love Kristin Chang's work, and she also seems like a lovely person, so I feel very guilty rating her debut collection 3 stars, but for whatever reason, I was just not as moved by this gathering of poems as I have been by the the works of hers I've seen in years prior in journals and magazines. That being said, it is still 100% worth reading this book (I don't give a poetry book 3 stars very easily). And I do very much look forward to her future books! Congratulations, Kristin Chang!
March 26, 2019
New favorite poet & one of the best emerging writers in poetry right now. Each poem flows effortlessly through a dizzying collection of visceral images, all made needle-sharp with her masterful wielding of the line break.
"My mother says / women who sleep with women / are redundant: the body symmetrical / to its crime. Between your knees / I mistake need for belief / in a father figure: once, we renamed / our fathers by burning them / out of our bodies, smoking the sky / into meat."
"My mother says / women who sleep with women / are redundant: the body symmetrical / to its crime. Between your knees / I mistake need for belief / in a father figure: once, we renamed / our fathers by burning them / out of our bodies, smoking the sky / into meat."
November 6, 2023
I didn’t like K-Ming Chang’s Bestiary, which is fiction…but her POETRY? Damn. She should’ve stuck to that IMO hahaha. That’s super unfair of me and of course, she’s thriving in her literary works. But to have a poetry collection this strong as one of your first published pieces is amazing. I hope one day she returns to a more traditional poetry collection format and does something like this again. “Past Lives, Future Bodies” is a fantastic book. And I gave Bestiary 3 stars so, this means a lot.
June 10, 2025
Unquestionably masterful poems. But this is one of those collections where becaus each poem does so much, I find it hard to separate out individual poems. Just a long smoosh of upsetting interpersonal dynamics, lots of blood, and weird sex/eating/birth imagery. I read this slowly--and probably should have read it even more slowly. All of which is to say that these poems are excellent and I am slightly not smart enough to read them one after another.
June 28, 2019
i love how much the writer talks about her culture and country. it made it such an interesting and important collection. it was so thought provoking and im buying a copy for my friend too. its such a good book and its sad its not more popular. defo needs to be!!!!!!!! its really short so easy to read quickly but makes you think a lot which is good!
March 7, 2020
The imagery and word play are amazing in this collection. Many of these poems dealing with generational trauma and longing: sexual longing, familial longing, and cultural longing. Kristin Chang is able to make the reader to consider a word in a new light and uses her ling breaks to transform/surprise your expectations.
May 26, 2021
*4.5 stars*
Nearly flawless. Standout poems:
-"The Chinese Sappho"
-"anchor baby"
-"The History of Sexuality"
-"Closet space"
-"I take my mother to the hospital"
-"Poem for my mother's cleaver"
Nearly flawless. Standout poems:
-"The Chinese Sappho"
-"anchor baby"
-"The History of Sexuality"
-"Closet space"
-"I take my mother to the hospital"
-"Poem for my mother's cleaver"
July 6, 2023
If your Mommy issues afflict you w a daughterly love and your Daddy issues manifest as bitter hate, this collection will feel like self-injecting desolation w a syringe. So to say she’s very cohesive and painful! /pos
October 26, 2018
holy shit, wow
November 20, 2018
I've been waiting for this book since I first read one of her poems. It was completely worth the wait and my favorite poetry collection of the year.
February 23, 2019
4 on a couple.
August 12, 2019
Past Lives, Future Bodies by Kristin Chang
Devastating. A mind blower. Written by a poet who is a master of imagery, metaphor, and line beaks. #KrisinChang #PastLivesFutureBodies #poetry
Devastating. A mind blower. Written by a poet who is a master of imagery, metaphor, and line beaks. #KrisinChang #PastLivesFutureBodies #poetry
August 20, 2019
i will re-read asap. poetry collections allways deserve more than one read, this one is outstanding, hope to find more words after the re-read :)
Read
February 25, 2020Quick and searing collection.
Favorite poems: “Symmetry,” “anchor baby,” “In Pine Bluff, Arkansas,” “Televangelism,” and “The History of Sexuality.”
Favorite poems: “Symmetry,” “anchor baby,” “In Pine Bluff, Arkansas,” “Televangelism,” and “The History of Sexuality.”
May 6, 2020
simply spectacular, the line breaks absolutely floored me. just...amazing
June 8, 2020
I still don't know how to talk about poetry. I had a beautiful time reading this. The standout poems for me were:
1. Symmetry
2. Yilan
3. Midas
4.Heaven/Sky
That list could be longer...
1. Symmetry
2. Yilan
3. Midas
4.Heaven/Sky
That list could be longer...
January 8, 2022
this was absolutely incredible
November 29, 2022
Magnificent!! Just fucking magnificent!! I'll be thing about this one for a while.
August 2, 2023
lovelovelove the words fly off the page the lush vibrance of yearning & trauma & body & family & all that good stuff this rlly tickled a certain part of my brain
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews