Poems of Wu Suzhen, Yue Xuan &; Qing Shui

This thirteenth volume in the Asia Pacific Poetry Series from Vagabond Press is a collection of poems by three Chinese women poets, Wu Suzhen, Yue Xuan and Qing Shui. Wu, born in 1981, from Jiangxi in the hinterland of China; Yue, born in 2002, from Wenling by the East China Sea; and Qing, born in 1971, from Shanghai proper. There is a wide range of themes covered in this volume. Wu Suzhen is adept at capturing traditional streets that are fast disappearing in small towns in Jiangxi, people suffering from depression or madness, old women in bound feet in her finely wrought lines. Yue Xuan, the youngest of the three, writes short and pithy poems in a dry, humorous tone, that depict the world through the eyes of a 14-year-old. Qing Shui is lyrically passionate, writing prose poems centred on nature that are sensitive and mesmerizing. Combined, translated with care and precision by Ouyang Yu, the poetry gathered here offers insights into the social reality of contemporary China from three of generations of Chinese women poets.