1.
Once peace is produced,
it must be sent faster than bullets
to reach every corner of the world.
2.
The batteries in every remote control
reveal industry’s sheer worship of Yin and Yang.
3.
Equality is giving each group in society
a suit to put on for the staged group photo.
4.
Your social reputation as a fish in water
won’t shift your wife’s view of you
in your own backyard pool.
5.
Many other doors lie inside the door —
most of us are shut
outside the inner door.
6.
The bridges in written words
cannot bear the weight of true crossing.
When one encounters such a bridge,
one can only swim across.
7.
The future of the nail depends on
encountering a hammer with a solid background.
8.
As we debate the issue of overpopulation,
many have thrust themselves beyond every bottom line.
9.
I dreamed of living a life of luxury,
then my dream became luxurious...
But my life did not.
10.
The ball in the hands of the greedy
is always larger than the rim of reality’s basket.
11.
My dream is that simple—
don’t wake it.
12.
From the perspective of pollution,
white paper has long disappeared.
Everyone keeps writing
on what’s already been written.
13.
Many victors in textbooks set off firecrackers,
but leave to their descendants the burden
of sweeping up the scraps.
Yan Li (poet and artist) was born in Beijing in 1954. He started writing poetry in 1973 and painting in 1979. He was a member of the pioneering art group “Star Painting Club” and the literary group “Today” in Beijing in 1979, and held the first solo exhibition of pioneering art in China in 1984. In 1987, he founded the poetry journal “First Line New York” (which ceased publication in 2000) and resumed publication in New York in June 2020, where he continues to serve as editor-in-chief. He is the president of the Overseas Chinese Writers’ Association and has authored several poetry collections and novels.
Anna Yin was Mississauga’s Inaugural Poet Laureate (2015-2017) and has authored six poetry collections and four books of translations, including “Mirrors and Windows” (Guernica Editions) in 2021. Her poems/translations have appeared at Queen’s Quarterly, ARC Poetry, New York Times, China Daily, CBC Radio, Denver Quarterly, World Journal etc. Anna won poetry awards from Canada, USA and China. She has read on Parliament Hill, at Austin International Poetry Festival, Edmonton Poetry Festival etc. She teaches Poetry Alive and her 11th book will be published by Frontenac Press in 2025. Website: www.annapoetry.com