Sally Wen Mao

Sally Wen Mao is a Chinese-American poet.

Quotes

 * I would want a dreaming machine that dreams up the most beautiful dreams and then show me exactly how to make them a reality…This is the eternal conundrum: the visualization of desires (dreams), and then the dissonance between that and reality.
 * On her poem “Yume-Miru Kikai” in “41.2 Feature: An Interview with Sally Wen Mao” in Black Warrior Review (2015 Mar 2)


 * The ambiguity when the performance of self becomes self-destructive, or when performance of self becomes pathological. That gray area interests me as a poet because it’s so wrapped up in everyday life now that it’s almost mundane. So much of this performance is tied to feelings of worth and value; in essence, it becomes ongoing, an entire existence all on its own…
 * On the “self” as a spectacle in “Jenny Xie Interviews Sally Wen Mao” (Poetry Foundation; Jan 2019)


 * History books are necessary in order for us to know and perceive the truth, and there’s always a question of perspective and who gets to tell the story…
 * On who gets to “gaze” or be “gazed upon” in “HIJACKING THE NARRATIVE: A CONVERSATION WITH SALLY WEN MAO” in Adroit Journal (2019 Mar 21)


 * Visibility is not enough—we need actual complexity. Visibility can quickly turn into invisibility when the stories that make us visible actually reduce our humanity and complexity. This is especially true if we prop up token stories—tokenism is a big problem when it comes to the film industry—or any industry…
 * On certain stories about Asian people being recycled in “HIJACKING THE NARRATIVE: A CONVERSATION WITH SALLY WEN MAO” in Adroit Journal (2019 Mar 21)