Almanac of Useless Talents

by Michael Chang

Fence poetry editor and rising star Michael Chang’s Almanac of Useless Talents is a must-read for poetry lovers and newbies alike. This is a useless Almanac. There’s no seasonal data, only poems good for leaving the club in haute couture with mid-level poets, for ambiguous sex, mouthy seductions, shoulder-turns of cold cock disrespect.

Part confessional, part experimental, and completely original, Chang is a poet read in classrooms and on phone screens with equal fervor. Each poem deftly deforms self into outrageous performance. This poetry snaps and twists so fast you’ll miss things: the intricate formal craft, the bitchy wordplay. A dopamine rush delving into desire’s throbbing networks of flesh and circuit, identity, relationships, Aznness, queerdom, and more that would arouse Ashbery envy, Chang’s playful style is edgy, surprising, and delightful. In Chang’s world, sentiment is décor: come face the amusing ever-ache of our desires or go ahead and try to outrun them.

Genres: Poetry, Queer

120 pages, Paperback

First published September 13, 2022

Reviews

[Adrienne Blaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

How many poets do you feel are truly honest? I ask because I found this collection of poetry to be refreshingly forthright.

I put these secrets into skin / fry them till they are golden brown / drizzle plum sauce on them / sweet & savory / that is how they want me to write / instead /
I write about timothée chalamet

Did I love every poem, every cultural reference? No. Michael Chang has done something brave and banal with these poems and I love them for it.

[k-os]

obsessed

"Need m*n to open particular jars but other than that drawing a blank"

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny and acerbic. I’m just not the ideal audience for all of it.

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kai also picked out this collection and this foiled my conceptualization of Blake and Whitman and the white poet's iron grip on nature metaphors in a very 'Pleasure Activism' way. There is much to be gained from pop culture as its own ecosystem.

Also, as an Ocean Vuong enthusiast, it was fun to hear how adamant the desire for distance from his literary influence was throughout the collection. And understood!
Michael Chang understood queerness as a form of other worldliness that my friend Ocean Vuong is much less invested in capturing or exploring.

Ocean seeks to escape or envelop.
Chang knows they will entertain and entice.
They are appetizing like an English menu that assumes its English audience is too stupid for true translation. Happy enough to clap and chew through 'Kung Pow Chicken' and 'Sweet & Spicy', needing not a layer more of context or cholesterol.

[Benjamin Niespodziany · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading this collection, I found myself wanting to write Michael Chang-type poems, and I found it impossible. Such a uniquely singular brutally honest voice in these poems. Cocky and lively and energized and blunt. Nothing is off limits. Everything feels so good it hurts, or rather, everything hurts so bad it feels good.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast-moving splashy poems that tangle racial and sexual identity. I had to use augmented reality translation here and there, which was rather apropos.

[Jennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neon bright sign words burning into your eyes. Awesome new voice breathing sharp, unfiltered performance.

Excellent

[po's dad · Rating 4 out of 5]

this guy fucks

[Dani Neblock · Rating 1 out of 5]

:/ it just didn’t speak to me at all

It was hard to get through for me, I understand I’m not the target audience but I also feel like it managed to say nothing at all

[Taylor Napolsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Playful, lighthearted, often not taking itself too seriously.

Really fun poems...innovative with a cool tone to them.

I love how modern it feels.

Read it twice, to get a full grip on it. This is an interesting book by an interesting poet, and I'd probably read another book of his.

I'm glad I spent time with this.