Barbie Chang: Poems

"Chang's voice is equal parts searing, vulnerable, & terrified."—American Poets 

In Barbie Chang, Victoria Chang explores racial prejudice, sexual privilege, & the disillusionment of love through a reimagining of Barbie—perfect in the cultural imagination yet repeatedly falling short as she pursues the American dream. This energetic string of linked poems is full of wordplay, humor, & biting social commentary involving the quote-unquote speaker, Barbie Chang, a disillusioned Asian-American suburbanite. By turns woeful & passionate, playful and incisive, these poems reveal a voice insisting that "even silence is not silent." 

From "Barbie Chang Lives": Barbie Chang lives on Facebook has a house on Facebook street so she can erase herself Facebook is a country with no trees it allows her to believe people love her don't want to cover her Barbie Chang . . . 

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Victoria Chang is the author of three previous poetry books. In 2013, she won the PEN Center USA Literary Award & a California Book Award. Chang teaches poetry at Chapman University & lives in Southern California.