Breaking New Sky

Contemporary Poetry from China

This is a wonderfully eclectic collection of the work of known and unknown contemporary Chinese poets which marks a sea-change in the form. Lyrical, political, and yet down-to-earth, this new poetry exhibits a liberating, existential dimension previously constricted by propaganda and self-censorship. The rise of women poets is a further sign of this change. Take Lu Ye's confident and assured words – like her free-ranging ducks – 'believing only in the poetry of life', which lends a profound voice to a profound change. Ouyang Yu's method of 'direct translation' serves this new freedom perfectly, rendering immediacy with supreme intimacy in a brief stretching of wind.