What does a second-grade report card filled with D's have to do with inspiring a room full of upper school students? For award-winning poet Tina Chang, the answer is: everything. Tina visited Moses Brown School on Thursday, February 24, to share her journey of overcoming academic struggles and finding her voice through poetry, captivating students with her honesty and powerful words.  

During the upper school assembly, Tina didn't hold back as she shared her less-than-stellar academic beginnings. "When I was younger, I never thought that I'd stand on this stage to be speaking to a large crowd," she confessed, displaying her second-grade report card filled with D's. She recounted her mother's poignant reaction to the report card, a mix of concern and unwavering belief in her daughter's potential. This personal anecdote set the stage for Tina's message of perseverance and the power of finding one's voice, even in the face of adversity.  

Tina's presentation included readings from her acclaimed poetry collections, including Half-Lit Houses, Of Gods & Strangers, and Hybrida. She shared the inspiration behind her poems, from her family history to her observations on contemporary issues.  

One poem that resonated deeply with the students was "My Father. A Tree," a moving tribute to her late father:

"Today, longing for my father / I saw a solitary bleached owl skim / the dark grasses. It slept so low / to the ground it might have buried itself. / I did not know my father so how could I / be lonely for that guardian?”

The poem's exploration of loss, memory, and connection to nature offered a powerful moment of reflection for the students.  

After the assembly, Tina led a poetry workshop with a smaller group of students, providing a more intimate setting for aspiring writers to hone their craft. The day culminated in a public reading and book signing in the evening, extending Tina's impactful message to the wider local community.

“After working with Tina's poetry in our classrooms, hearing her story and experiencing her performance of her poetry was enriching, exciting, and emotionally moving,” says Wilson Taylor, Director of Student Life. “Tina's visit to Moses Brown resonated so beautifully with our students, and they are particularly appreciative of Tina's vulnerability in sharing her experiences and, of course, by the power of her poetry. We are so fortunate for these opportunities to work with and learn from our Visiting Poets, and Tina Chang has been remarkably generous and kind.

“Through her work as a teacher, writer, and Poet Laureate of Brooklyn, and through her collections, Tina thinks with startling imaginative originality, searing emotional truth, and soaring moral vision that braids together the intimacy of individual experience with the urgency of communal belonging, in an idiom that always registers the tragic while hoping, striving, for transformation.”

Tina's visit to Moses Brown served as a powerful reminder that the path to success is not always linear and that our struggles can often be the greatest source of our strength. Her words left an indelible mark on the students, inspiring them to embrace their own stories and find their voices, just as she did.

This visit was part of the school's long-running poetry series, founded by retired faculty member Ransom Griffin, which has brought some of the most compelling voices in contemporary poetry to Moses Brown’s campus for more than 20 years. An endowment has recently been established to support the study and appreciation of poetry at Moses Brown and the Visiting Poet Series, ensuring its legacy for years to come.