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the book cover for The Trees Witness Everything featuring the title against a pink background

W. S. Merwin’s Ancestral Memory in Victoria Chang’s The Trees Witness Everything

Almost every poem in Victoria Chang’s new collection gets its title from a W. S. Merwin poem of the same name. Both poets seem to believe in the idea that history and life are really just ongoing cycles designed to propel us forward, just as they also keep us tied to our pasts.