After her mother’s death, Chang wrote deep into grief by composing “obits”—from her mother’s blue dress to language itself.The New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2020Time Magazine's 100 Must-Read Books of 2020NPR's Best Books of 2020National Book Award in Poetry, LonglistFrank Sanchez Book AwardAfter her mother died, poet Victoria Chang refused to write elegies. Rather, she distilled her grief during a feverish two weeks by writing scores of poetic obituaries for all she lost in the world. In Obit, Chang writes of “the way memory gets up after someone has died and starts walking.” These poems reinvent the form of newspaper obituary to both name what has died (“civility,” “language,” “the future,” “Mother’s blue dress”) and the cultural impact of death on the living. Whereas elegy attempts to immortalize the dead, an obituary expresses loss, and the love for the dead becomes a conduit for self-expression. In this unflinching and lyrical book, Chang meets her grief and creates a powerfu
