Chen Chen

hello, good evening, my name is chen chen, i’m a poet, and you may know me from such poems as this, “i love you to the moon &”

We have only one minute and I love you. —Dunya Mikhail, from "Tablets V"

Sorrysorrysorry the world has a big slash in it, and if you think the wound is sexy or helpful, at the end of the statement I will set fire to the abutting pasture, too. —Paige Ackerson-Kiely, from "Book About a Candle Burning in a Shed"

The open submission period for Boa's 26th annual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize remains open now through November 30th. The winning manuscript will be published by Boa Editions in Spring 2028 and the winner will receive a $1,000 prize! For more information, visit boaeditions.org.

A poem must burst with a truth-seeking flame and be a small symphony of language, too. —Henri Cole

Proofreading a smutty poem that's in my new book (forthcoming this spring) and I'm blushing again, even though it's been years since I wrote it.

Times when I understand myself a little, I understand others less. —Antonio Porchia, tr. W.S. Merwin

There are many cheesy poems (some I adore), but are there many poems *about* cheese?

Let me see your eyes. No, your real ones: The overgrown trestle above the dam. How it feels to leap. —Paige Ackerson-Kiely, from "Trestle"

Always funny to realize that your personal favorite pieces among your own writing are sometimes (often?) not what other people gravitate toward. It's like, Are they wrong? Am I? Do I just have more of an emotional connection to these? But these *are* the best! Are they, though?

every mood of mine is a Very Specific Mood

the degree to which the state of my hair determines the state of my Being

The idea that you might need to continue to learn how to read—because a text demands a different framework or further critical imagination—should not be an abhorrent one. I think it's exciting, that there continue to be texts, forms, idioms I don't yet know how to (fully) read.

Thank you to everyone who celebrated and supported BOA Editions on its 50th anniversary! Your presence, kind words, and generosity made this milestone unforgettable. Here’s to the next 50 years of a chorus unbroken. #BOA50 #smallpress #literature

I just want to keep writing weird little books

Everyone (including me) always highlights the lines, "Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. / Just keep going. No feeling is final." But today I keep going back to the later lines, "Nearby is the country they call life. / You will know it by its seriousness."

Every good day is a very gay day.

"It’s the name my mother would’ve given her daughter if she ever had one instead of yet another son. Wanda." Reread Chen Chen's poem IN THE FOREST OF MY OWN TEARS I SUDDENLY REMEMBER WANDA from our SEPTEMBER ISSUE before it hits the archive 💚 buff.ly/V7jPdcC

Calling US-residing Latinx poets! There's just a few days left to submit your manuscript to the 2026 Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize! The winning manuscript will receive a $2,000 prize and publication with Noemi Press Guest judge: Rigoberto González noemipress.submittable.com/submit

Calling Arab poets! There's only a few days left to submit your manuscript to the 2026 Etel Adnan Poetry Prize! The winning manuscript will receive a $2,000 prize and publication with Noemi Press (US) and @outspokenpress.bsky.social (UK) Guest judge: Hala Alyan noemipress.submittable.com/submit

Truth be told, being a writer also means being annoying though.

Are you even a writer unless annoying, reactionary people hate what you’re doing?

Not understanding but falling anyway into the dream of another's making is one of the most exhilarating experiences you can have. I'm sad for those who deny themselves such experiences by refusing to dip even a second into strangeness/mystery when, say, reading a poem or watching a film.

So glad I had, when I was younger, years of reading and writing and dreaming and making—before getting on social media. It's wild to me that people's views on literature and creativity are so shaped by discourse online. To the point where you just don't get to develop your own taste.

An excerpt from In Cahoots with the Rabbit God, the forthcoming craft book by @chenchenwrites.bsky.social! Link to preorder below

We ❤️ a preorder on ACCOMPLISHMENT SUNDAY!! Former poetry contest judge @chenchenwrites.bsky.social’s debut essay collection IN CAHOOTS WITH THE RABBIT GOD (forthcoming 12/1/2026) is available to preorder now 🤩 buff.ly/nYVZ3du

Fuck Cornell.

We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives. —Toni Morrison

中秋快乐!

to queer or not to queer. no. the question is, how to queer further, queer the queerest