POETRY BY MICHAEL CHANG

without fear or favor

if america is an experiment, we’re the guinea pigs

article 51-a (g) of the indian constitution provides:

“it shall be the duty of every citizen * * * to have compassion for living creatures”

want your kiss & baby back ribs

dance mirror & woe

gorge on redheads & birthday cake

we board the lifeboats in this order: no cops, ever

deflated life rafts & peaceful tear gas

forget your white allyship

the first thing we do: kill all the lawyers

backyards covered in soot

i’m the mozart of trolling

& the beethoven of dissing

the greco-roman crocodile chose you

ebony & ivory

in that moment i knew neglect

like when zach galifianakis ax brie larson:

“you won best actress—have you ever thought of aiming higher and trying to win best actor?”

r u dan quayle cuz u can be my potato—e

无依无靠

no one to rely on

boy gulps

you smell me

whip your head round

i catch your eye

you’re mad fit

slide off those shorts

moo for me

daz queer theory

A Lambda Literary fellow, MICHAEL CHANG (they/them) was awarded the Kundiman Scholarship at the Miami Writers Institute in addition to fellowships from Lighthouse Writers Workshop, Brooklyn Poets, and the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing. Their writing has appeared in the Cincinnati Review, Summerset Review, Vassar Review, the minnesota review, Santa Clara Review, Ninth Letter, Hobart, Harpur Palate, Poet Lore, The Nervous Breakdown, and more. A finalist in contests at BOMB, NightBlock, and many others, their poems have been nominated for Best of the Net. Their collection <golden fleece> was a finalist for the Iowa Review Award in Poetry.