Philly Chapbook Review is pleased to present two original poems by Maggie Wang as our first biweekly featured poet of the Summer 2026 issue.
Poems
Possibilities for Action
text from Petition for a Writ of Mandamus, In re Juliana, Supreme Court Docket No. 24-298 and Petition for a Writ of Certiorari, Juliana v. United States, Supreme Court Docket No. 24-6451
seek redress, address a question, contravene requirements,
require a determination, file petitions, redress injuries
make a mockery, resolve a controversy, overturn
abuse, pose a question, create disruption, have
no other means, preserve rights, use the we
apon, have no remedy, threaten the struc
ture, seek vindication, evade burdens
adopt a strategy, circumvent con
ditions, challenge orders, find
evidence, fall short, graft on
a requirement, satisfy co
nditions, make a show
ing, terminate proc
eedings, respond
to a declaration,
exceed juris
diction, co
mmence
action
div
est
of disc
retion, re
quire author
ization, deny a
right, adopt find
ings, leave no adeq
uate means, pose dan
ger, depart from law, play
a role, undermine rules, auth
orize combustion, obey the deci
sion, increase temperatures, ignore
decisions, cite evidence, assert a prero
gative, abandon home, deploy weapons,
show injuries, interfere with proceedings, re
main unchanged, disrupt development, offer no
thing, undermine integrity, cite evidence, grant the
petition, reduce harm, obtain relief, declare a violation
- Action by young plaintiffs asserting that the federal government violated their constitutional rights by causing dangerous carbon dioxide concentrations. The Supreme Court denied the plaintiffs’ petition for review, effectively ending the litigation. ↩︎
Bibliographies
Conceal the graph from its origin. A figure gravitates
toward an ending. If-then statement
or partial printing. Bill
prepared for introduction. Compel an outcome
into obsolescence. Open parenthesis
without answer. Erase it
as a fissure in a hull. A credo in composition.
Separate instinct from admission. Move for
and enter a default judgment. A permanent perception
of desire. Its smallness under the scalpel. Rust
gnawing at its memory. There: disclaim your views
on adding and subtracting. Behold a snowmelt
turning into river. History
is a third-order polynomial, and law is made
of opposites. Subject the current to regression analysis.
Watch the sound bird tipping gently at the wing.
Bracket it: a nonconclusive presumption,
exclusion from a remedy. Completeness theorem
or logical fallacy. Give the variable a name in being.
How much is asked of literal translation? Is a river a lie,
or does it merely catch the sunlight in its seeming?
About “Possibilities for Action”
In what ways can the law simultaneously be an instrument for taking action and for resisting it? ‘Possibilities for Action’ explores this question using language from two court filings in Juliana v. United States, a lawsuit in which 21 youth plaintiffs sought redress for violations of constitutional rights resulting from the U.S. government’s contributions to climate change. This language offers one possible framing through which to appreciate the law’s capacity to hope for, request, and even command commitment to a more just future.
Author Bio
Maggie Wang is interested in intertextuality, the environment, and the absurd. She is the author of a chapbook, The Sun on the Tip of a Snail’s Shell (Hazel Press, 2022).
Contents
“This language offers one possible framing through which to appreciate the law’s capacity to hope for, request, and even command commitment to a more just future.” Read two poems by Maggie Wang, our first biweekly poet of the Summer 2026 issue, along with a few words about “Possibilities for Action.”