Ching-in Chen Reads at Fordham
On the 19th of February, Ching-in Chen visited Fordham for a poetry reading moderated by visiting professor Dr. Tracie Morris. The event, the first in a series for Dr. Morris's Feminism and American Poetry class, was held over Zoom and attended by undergraduate students and faculty. Chen's reading and the subsequent Q&A session were illuminating, spanning topics from gender identity to how to care for others during crises.
Ching-in "Chingy" Chen (they/them), an Asian American poet, has published three poetry collections and currently teaches at the University of Washington. Chen read six poems and presented one multimedia piece called "Household Mutations." The multimedia piece featured text-to-speech programs reading the piece, with the automated voices overlapping to create the sense of listening to a multicultural conversation. As they read, they shared a document featuring the poems being read. Audience members quickly caught on that, in some poems, Chen was not reading linearly, but moving up and down the stanzas and the page. This created a multidimensional experience for every poem, wherein the piece existed in different forms on the page and in Chen's speech. Additionally, the poems being read took an entirely different form in the event's closed captioning. Due to technical difficulties, closed captioning was only offered in the chatbox of the Zoom call, rather than on-screen with the speakers. As such, conversations were preserved in the chatbox and could be readily referred to, and transcriptions could be compared to Chen's written word.
The relationship between the page and the reading was brought up in the Q&A session that followed the reading, during which Dr. Morris asked some initial questions and opened the floor to any participants. When asked about the ways that they read the poems, Chen explained that the reading was improvisational, changing depending on how they were feeling that day. They cited a previous mentor Juan-Felipe Herrera for this reading style and explained that it allowed them to bring the poem "alive" in different ways, every time they read.
Chen identifies as genderfluid, nonbinary, and multigendered. They were asked by a participant in the call about their thoughts on pronouns, particularly regarding pushback from critics that the singular "they/them" is grammatically incorrect and linguistically unacceptable. Chen expressed that when they better understood their gender identity and reflected that in their personal pronouns, they felt more connected to the world. They ultimately described pronouns as deeply personal to every individual and urged for more acceptance of the gender identity spectrum. In describing their personal experience with self-identification, Chen articulates a continued concern for social justice.
In light of the Texas snowstorm, Chen explained their relationship to the state, having lived there for a number of years and during Hurricane Harvey. They introduced several pieces related to their time in Texas, and to the mutual care that they witnessed in the aftermath. The reading was followed by a Q&A session during which several students described Texas as their home state. As students recounted their experiences in Hurricane Harvey and during the recent snowstorms, many, including Chen, were teary-eyed. Students recalled receiving food and water from neighbors and teachers and urged anyone in the Zoom call to donate to mutual aid funds, if possible. This opened up a discussion about those who are disproportionately affected by crises such as these, and how when people in power fail their constituents, "normal" people are ready to fill in the gaps, wherever possible.
The intimacy of this event made the conversation flow easily and seemed to influence everyone to speak freely. Attendees left the event feeling inspired not only to write but to look towards their local communities, and how to support them. Chen's willingness to give themselves and their poetry to us was a special thing to be a part of. It showed how even when we are all so far apart, we can still be brought together by poetry.
Bea Mendoza
Poetic Justice Institute Fellow
