Chang piled up poems during his time in the military and in 1962 published a collection entitled A May Hunt. He also placed second in the short poetry category in the very first Armed Forces Golden Statues Awards for Literature and Arts contest, and had poems included in Collected Poetry of the 1970s (Ta-yeh Booksellers) and A Collection of Contemporary Chinese Poetry, published by the Epoch Poetry Club.
從此張拓蕪的軍旅歲月疊上了詩，1962 年還出版過一本詩集《五月狩》，也得過國軍第一屆文藝金像獎短詩第二名，詩作入選《70 年代詩選》（大業書店）暨《中國現代詩選》（創世紀詩社）。