How did Tina Chang become the Poet Laureate of Brooklyn? By writing the following words:

“I walk the streets of Brooklyn looking at this storefront and that, buy a pair of shoes I can’t afford, pumps from London, pointed at the tip and heartbreakingly high, hear my new heels clicking, crushing the legs of my shadow.”

Well, actually that is a mere sampling of her work taken from her poem Duality. There is so much more to choose from.

Ms. Chang is the author of Half-Lit Houses which was a finalist for an Asian American Literary Award. She is also coeditor, with Nathalie Handal and Ravi Shankar, of Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia and Beyond. Currently, she teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and her new collection of poetry, Of Gods and Strangers, is forthcoming in 2011 from Four Way Books.

But most importantly, at least for those of us on the Vineyard, Ms. Chang will be reading at Featherstone Center for the Arts on Thursday, August 4, at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $20. For more information, call 508-693-1850 or visit featherstoneart.org.