Justin Chin

Justin Chin at Progressive Reading Series - March 2008 Save Rent Control
Originally uploaded by Steve Rhodes

Justin Chin was born in Malaysia, raised in Singapore, moved to Hawaii, and now lives in San Francisco. In an interview with Frigatezine, he explains that, as a kid, he wanted to be a mad scientist "driven not by evilness, but by some sense of wanting to be saved and redeemed and converted to goodness by the hero," but his parents wanted him to be a doctor. He strayed from both aspirations, obviously, and is now a poet and performance artist, claiming to have stumbled into poetry by accident—"mostly by way of rock music and top-forty pop." His writing spans numerous topics and themes, including childhood experiences, queer life, consumerism, and immigration—all with a touch of wit and brutal honesty. To date, he has published three poetry books (Bite Hard, Harmless Medicine, and Gutted) and two collections of non-fiction essays (Mongrel: Essays, Diatribes & Pranks and Burden of Ashes). As a performance artist in the 90s, he created eight full-length solo works, which are all published in his book, Attack of the Man-Eating Lotus Blossoms.

I first discovered Justin Chin's work while perusing the Asian American section of the SFSU Bookstore with Sharon. Flipping through Harmless Medicine, I came across "Neo Testament," a short poetic prose, which starts off with:

Jesus had a twin named Ted. Ted Christ. Ted was neither godly nor evil. He was just indifferent. Jesus hated Ted. He prayed everyday for Ted's crib death, and God listened. Jesus soon regretted his decision and held his breath until God resurrected Ted, but on a different day, so he would not have to share birthdays.

His sense of humor appealed to me, and I made my decision right then and there to choose him as my poet for this class.