When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities

“When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities” is situated in a long literary history of lyric poetry. Traditional lyric poetry is short, and often has songlike qualities, expressing the concerns within the speaker’s internal psyche. Lyrics were historically intended to be sung; however, the definition expanded to include formally structured poems such as the elegy, ode, and sonnet that exist solely on the page (“Lyric Poetry,” The Editors of the Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation).

The modern lyric is much more free form, defined loosely as any poetry that expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken from the first-person point of view. Chen’s work is confessional in nature, paying homage to the traditional lyric through the anaphora of the infinitive verb “to be,” thus imbuing the poem with an almost songlike quality, that of a religious hymn (see: Literary Devices “Anaphora”).

However, as a queer Chinese American poet, Chen occupies a unique space, creating a marginalized lyric subject that adds a much-needed, different perspective to the canon. Straight, white male poets such as William Wordsworth and Edgar Allen Poe dominate the poetic, and distinctly lyric, canon, lauded for their existential musing and vulnerability within their poetry. However, when the canon of lyric poetry is predominantly comprised of this white, male viewpoint, only one singular story is remembered throughout history. 

Chen is not trying to be revolutionary. However, by simply writing from his unique perspective, Chen’s work alters the very conditions of contemporary lyric and confessional poetry by placing value on his own personal anecdotes and sharing them with the world.