this        my father tells me        is a landscape

this is the horizon
these are waves
this is perspective

this is a skeleton
this is a fisherman

these are mountains

this white is like clouds

this is feiying

some of these are copied
some are my own imagination

this is from my imagination

this cow is in the water

it means lots of years have passed








this is a flower
it’s for New Year’s

this is a landscape
at the top are the clouds

this is zuoxia
this is wanjun

these are old

it’s all from a long time ago
that one is from when I first started

this is all jiewu

this is my eye
I drew it myself

you place them like so
and then start drawing







this is a boat
this is wind

this is a bujun

this was in art class where the model posed for us
we drew the model and then went off on our own

this is fénzai

this is from the beginner class

I forgot

when I was working in Chinatown I learned landscape painting
but this is when I retired and moved to Flushing

I copied this
to write words

I don’t remember

I didn’t write this
I think these are your mom’s words







“His daughter plays the temis.”
oh I see        “tennis” with two n’s
did you write this
then who
I’ve forgotten

no it’s mine        it’s my homework when I took classes
looking through these books I’ve forgotten

this is Wednesday

I remember one phrase most

“It’s with you to dance—
to decide? To decide.
It rests with you to decide.”

I didn’t finish this one

this is poetry







I have other books        not sure where they are
some written in Chinese        written to you        to Mom
I don’t know        I can’t find them        I don’t have time now

is this an R or a V

when I was dreaming

I can’t tell what it is anymore

this is baogu
this is also baogu
this is kwaileyannian

I accomplished something didn’t I


sanxiá
in Sichuan

do you know what this is
this is a mother







the magnifying glass broke
Mom bought me a new one
the old one had dropped


it’s a water buffalo
not yellow buffalo
these four words        di du qing shen
do you understand

you start here        you end here

do you want to see more
all right

this is 山水

this horse drawing is really good

this is a father
this is a child

Biographical Statement

Wah-Ming Chang is a writer and bookmaker based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work has been supported by such organizations as the Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and Art Omi, and has been published in The Kenyon Review and Epiphany Magazine, among other publications. "Landscape" was culled from the development of Hand, Held, her artist's book about her father's art practice, forthcoming from Bored Wolves, September 2026.