Bãi Đầm Trầu, Côn Đảo, Việt Nam
“In Vietnamese, the word for water and the word for a nation, a country, and a homeland are one and the same: nu’ó’c.” - from the epigraph in The Gangster We Are All Looking For by Lê Thi Diem Thúy
"Si nada nos salva de la muerte, al menos que el amor nos salve de la vida." - Pablo Neruda
Teresa Mei Chuc (Tuệ Mỹ Chúc) is multilingual, was born in Sài Gòn, Việt Nam and fled her Vietnamese homeland with her mother and brother shortly after the American war in Việt Nam, spending three and a half months in a freight boat stranded in the East Sea before being rescued. Her father, who had served in the Army of the Republic of Việt Nam, was imprisoned for nine years in a Việt Cộng "reeducation" camp in the jungles of Northern Việt Nam. Teresa is mixed Viet with Vietnamese, Yuè 戉, Taiwanese and Dai Lue ancestry and raised in Buddhist and Taoist traditions. From the age of two and a half, Teresa grew up on unceded Tongva territory in the village area of Hahamongna (Pasadena, California). Poet Laureate Emerita of Altadena, California (Editor-in-Chief) 2018-2020 and a member of the Pasadena Rose Poets since 2016, Teresa Mei Chuc is the author of three full-length collections of poetry, Invisible Light (Many Voices Press, 2018), Keeper of the Winds (FootHills Publishing, 2014) and Red Thread (First edition, Fithian Press, 2012 & Second edition, Shabda Press, 2021) and two poetry chapbooks, Incidental Takes (Hummingbird Press, 2023) and How One Loses Notes and Sounds (Word Palace Press, 2016). Teresa is co-editing the poetry anthology, Convergence: Poetry on Environmental Impacts of War (Scarlet Tanager Books, 2025). Teresa's work is forthcoming in the anthology, Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace II. A fellow and teacher consultant of the Los Angeles Writing Project (a chapter of the National Writing Project), she teaches literature and writing at a public school and works towards decolonizing education for her students. Teresa's poem, "accents," was made into a Vietnamese/English dual-language children's book published in 2023 by Stories of Vietnam, an organization whose mission is to help the Vietnamese diaspora learn their native language and culture through free access to dual-language children's books. Teresa sits on the Beyond Baroque Board of Trustees and is Chair of the Youth Engagement Committee. Teresa also sits on the Board of Directors for VCP SoCal Poets. Teresa's poetry book, The Indivisible Body of Reality, is forthcoming in 2026!
Teresa has a bachelors degree in philosophy, professional teaching credentials in primary and secondary education from California State University, Los Angeles, and a Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing (poetry) from Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont. She served for one year as poetry editor and another year as poetry editor-in-chief for Goddard College's Pitkin Review. Teresa was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2012 for "Truth is Black Rubber," a section of poems in her collection RED THREAD, and Teresa was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2016 for her poem "Quan Am on a Dragon." Teresa’s poetry appears in the anthology, Inheriting the War: Poetry and Prose by Descendants of Vietnam Veterans and Refugees (W.W. Norton). Teresa is a co-founder of the decentralized autonomous collective, The Regenerative Collective. Teresa practices tai chi (hao form, 108 moves), Shaolin staff (64 moves) and archery regularly. On February 24, 2019, Teresa completed a 40-Hour Domestic Violence Advocate Training (California Evidence Code 1037.1) and is a certified Domestic Violence Advocate. She is trained in suicide first aid (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training - ASIST).
Teresa is founder and Editor-in-Chief of Shabda Press, a member of Coast to Coast Poetry Press Collective. She is editor of the poetry anthology, Nuclear Impact: Broken Atoms in Our Hands.
Teresa's new book in collaboration with Doug Rawlings, Cầu Tre (Bamboo Bridge): Conversations between a Vietnamese Refugee and an American Veteran of the Vietnam War - Told in Poetry and Prose was published by Kellscraft Studio in fall 2021.
Teresa's first collection of poetry, Red Thread, was re-published and re-released in 2021!
Teresa has a bachelors degree in philosophy, professional teaching credentials in primary and secondary education from California State University, Los Angeles, and a Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing (poetry) from Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont. She served for one year as poetry editor and another year as poetry editor-in-chief for Goddard College's Pitkin Review. Teresa was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2012 for "Truth is Black Rubber," a section of poems in her collection RED THREAD, and Teresa was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2016 for her poem "Quan Am on a Dragon." Teresa’s poetry appears in the anthology, Inheriting the War: Poetry and Prose by Descendants of Vietnam Veterans and Refugees (W.W. Norton). Teresa is a co-founder of the decentralized autonomous collective, The Regenerative Collective. Teresa practices tai chi (hao form, 108 moves), Shaolin staff (64 moves) and archery regularly. On February 24, 2019, Teresa completed a 40-Hour Domestic Violence Advocate Training (California Evidence Code 1037.1) and is a certified Domestic Violence Advocate. She is trained in suicide first aid (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training - ASIST).
Teresa is founder and Editor-in-Chief of Shabda Press, a member of Coast to Coast Poetry Press Collective. She is editor of the poetry anthology, Nuclear Impact: Broken Atoms in Our Hands.
Teresa's new book in collaboration with Doug Rawlings, Cầu Tre (Bamboo Bridge): Conversations between a Vietnamese Refugee and an American Veteran of the Vietnam War - Told in Poetry and Prose was published by Kellscraft Studio in fall 2021.
Teresa's first collection of poetry, Red Thread, was re-published and re-released in 2021!
Books: Invisible Light (Many Voices Press, 2018), Keeper of the Winds (FootHills Publishing, 2014), Red Thread (Fithian Press, 2012 and republished by Shabda Press, 2021)
Chapbooks: Incidental Takes (Hummingbird Press, 2023), How One Loses Notes and Sounds (Word Palace Press, 2016), Year of the Hare (Shabda Press, 2013), Cartesian Product (Silkworms Ink, 2010), Cartography of Family (Chippens Press, 2010), Danaus Plexippus Plexippus (Victorian Violet Press, 2010), Truth is Black Rubber (Silkworms Ink, 2010)
Anthologies: Convergence: Poetry on Environmental Impacts of War (Scarlet Tanager Books, 2025), Here Was Once the Sea: An Anthology of Southeast Asian Eco-Writing (University of Hawaii Press, 2024), Literature to Go, 5e (Macmillan, 2024), The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature, 13e (Macmillan, 2024), The Global South (Indiana University Press, 2023), our body. period: a poetry anthology on menstruation (Alternative Field Press, 2023), Flowers Blooming From Scars (Korean Literature Society of America, 2022), California Fire & Water: A Climate Crisis Anthology (Story Street Press, 2020), Poetry & Stories of Hope for Challenging Times edited by Cheryl Perreault & Cynthia Franca (2020), Altadena Literary Review 2020 (Shabda Press, 2020), When the Virus Came Calling: Covid-19 Strikes America (Golden Foothills Press, 2020), Pasadena Rose Poets Poetry Collection 2019: Reflection. Resistance. Reckoning. Resurrection. (Shabda Press, 2019), We Got This: Solo Mom Stories of Grit, Heart, and Humor (She Writes Press, 2019), Inheriting the War: Poetry and Prose by Descendants of Vietnam Veterans and Refugees (W. W. Norton, 2017), Nuclear Impact: Broken Atoms in Our Hands (Shabda Press, 2017), Truth to Power: Writers Respond to the Rhetoric of Hate and Fear (Cutthroat, 2017), Archipelago (forthcoming), Immigration and Justice for Our Neighbors (City Celery Books, 2017), Rise: An Anthology of Power and Unity (Vagabond Books, 2017), Trumped (Beatlick Press, 2017), Spectrum 3: LoveLoveLove (Spectrum Publishing, 2016), Altadena Poetry Review : Anthology 2016, Spectrum 2: An Anthology of Southern California Poets (Spectrum Publishing, 2015), The Stone Bird: Anthology of the Eagle Rock Library (Eagle Rock Library, 2016), In the Questions: Poetry by and about Strong Women (Spider Road Press, 2015), Spectrum: An Anthology of Southern California Poets (Spectrum Publishing, 2015), Drawn to the Light: 2015 Southern California Haiku Study Group Anthology (SCHSG, 2015) , Their Own Bare Hands (Unbound CONTENT, forthcoming), Race in U.S. Education Anthology (The Teacher's Voice), With Our Eyes Wide Open: Poems of the New American Century (West End Press, 2014), Mo’ Joe (Beatlick Press, 2014), L (Silkworms Ink, 2011), Mo (Silkworms Ink, 2011), New Poets of the American West (Many Voices Press, 2010).
Journals: Aldus Journal of Translation, Artemis Journal, Ascent Aspirations Magazine, Atlas Poetica: A Journal of World Tanka, Babel Fruit, Big Bridge, Calico Tiger, California English, Consequence, Cutthroat: A Journal of the Arts, Da Mau Literary Magazine, EarthSpeak Magazine, English Journal, The Global South, The Good Men Project, Hawai'i Pacific Review, Hummingbird: Magazine of the Short Poem, Hypothetical, Review, Jack Magazine, Kyoto Journal, La Bloga, Locavore Lit LA, Masque & Spectacle, Memoir Journal, Miller's Pond, Mosaic, National Poetry Review, Pantheon Magazine, Pitkin Review, Poet Lore, PoetryMagazine.com, Rattle, Rise Up Review, Rose Bud Literary Magazine, Saltwater Quarterly, San Gabriel Valley Poetry Quarterly, Sugar Mule, The Prose-Poem Project, The Splinter Generation, TheThe Infoxicated Corner - TheThe Poetry Blog, The Tiger Moth Review, The Voices Project, Urban Confustions, Van nghe Vinh Magazine, Van nghe Ba Ria - Vung Tau Magazine, Verse Daily, Veteran Writers Group Quarterly, Whitefish Review
Chapbooks: Incidental Takes (Hummingbird Press, 2023), How One Loses Notes and Sounds (Word Palace Press, 2016), Year of the Hare (Shabda Press, 2013), Cartesian Product (Silkworms Ink, 2010), Cartography of Family (Chippens Press, 2010), Danaus Plexippus Plexippus (Victorian Violet Press, 2010), Truth is Black Rubber (Silkworms Ink, 2010)
Anthologies: Convergence: Poetry on Environmental Impacts of War (Scarlet Tanager Books, 2025), Here Was Once the Sea: An Anthology of Southeast Asian Eco-Writing (University of Hawaii Press, 2024), Literature to Go, 5e (Macmillan, 2024), The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature, 13e (Macmillan, 2024), The Global South (Indiana University Press, 2023), our body. period: a poetry anthology on menstruation (Alternative Field Press, 2023), Flowers Blooming From Scars (Korean Literature Society of America, 2022), California Fire & Water: A Climate Crisis Anthology (Story Street Press, 2020), Poetry & Stories of Hope for Challenging Times edited by Cheryl Perreault & Cynthia Franca (2020), Altadena Literary Review 2020 (Shabda Press, 2020), When the Virus Came Calling: Covid-19 Strikes America (Golden Foothills Press, 2020), Pasadena Rose Poets Poetry Collection 2019: Reflection. Resistance. Reckoning. Resurrection. (Shabda Press, 2019), We Got This: Solo Mom Stories of Grit, Heart, and Humor (She Writes Press, 2019), Inheriting the War: Poetry and Prose by Descendants of Vietnam Veterans and Refugees (W. W. Norton, 2017), Nuclear Impact: Broken Atoms in Our Hands (Shabda Press, 2017), Truth to Power: Writers Respond to the Rhetoric of Hate and Fear (Cutthroat, 2017), Archipelago (forthcoming), Immigration and Justice for Our Neighbors (City Celery Books, 2017), Rise: An Anthology of Power and Unity (Vagabond Books, 2017), Trumped (Beatlick Press, 2017), Spectrum 3: LoveLoveLove (Spectrum Publishing, 2016), Altadena Poetry Review : Anthology 2016, Spectrum 2: An Anthology of Southern California Poets (Spectrum Publishing, 2015), The Stone Bird: Anthology of the Eagle Rock Library (Eagle Rock Library, 2016), In the Questions: Poetry by and about Strong Women (Spider Road Press, 2015), Spectrum: An Anthology of Southern California Poets (Spectrum Publishing, 2015), Drawn to the Light: 2015 Southern California Haiku Study Group Anthology (SCHSG, 2015) , Their Own Bare Hands (Unbound CONTENT, forthcoming), Race in U.S. Education Anthology (The Teacher's Voice), With Our Eyes Wide Open: Poems of the New American Century (West End Press, 2014), Mo’ Joe (Beatlick Press, 2014), L (Silkworms Ink, 2011), Mo (Silkworms Ink, 2011), New Poets of the American West (Many Voices Press, 2010).
Journals: Aldus Journal of Translation, Artemis Journal, Ascent Aspirations Magazine, Atlas Poetica: A Journal of World Tanka, Babel Fruit, Big Bridge, Calico Tiger, California English, Consequence, Cutthroat: A Journal of the Arts, Da Mau Literary Magazine, EarthSpeak Magazine, English Journal, The Global South, The Good Men Project, Hawai'i Pacific Review, Hummingbird: Magazine of the Short Poem, Hypothetical, Review, Jack Magazine, Kyoto Journal, La Bloga, Locavore Lit LA, Masque & Spectacle, Memoir Journal, Miller's Pond, Mosaic, National Poetry Review, Pantheon Magazine, Pitkin Review, Poet Lore, PoetryMagazine.com, Rattle, Rise Up Review, Rose Bud Literary Magazine, Saltwater Quarterly, San Gabriel Valley Poetry Quarterly, Sugar Mule, The Prose-Poem Project, The Splinter Generation, TheThe Infoxicated Corner - TheThe Poetry Blog, The Tiger Moth Review, The Voices Project, Urban Confustions, Van nghe Vinh Magazine, Van nghe Ba Ria - Vung Tau Magazine, Verse Daily, Veteran Writers Group Quarterly, Whitefish Review
Poets & Writers Directory https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/teresa_mei_chuc
Poetry Foundation Biography https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/teresa-mei-chuc
Beyond Baroque Board of Trustees Announcement
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