By: Ken Chen

From: Please Excuse This Poem

This poem demonstrates originality because of its puzzle-like qualities which engulf the reader into an attempt to make meaning of the poem. Chen utilizes lines to reference forward and backward in the poem, making it so that the reader is interested and goes searching for their clues in order to solve the puzzle and make meaning of what they are reading. While it seems, at first, like another broken heart poem, it quickly takes on its own form by making it something the reader is caught up in understanding.