Poetry Chapbook. Translated from the Chinese and with a preface by Christopher Howell. Fourteen lyric poems by ten different Chinese writers, including Li Po and T'ao Ch'ien, accompanied by ephemeral, almost pointillist illustrations, make up this elegant sweet-to-the-touch chapbook. Chinese remains Chinese, writes Christopher Howell of the difficulties of translating these works, one of the world's most wonderful and difficult languages, no matter what alphabet is employed to express it. As elegant as the chapbook itself, the poems are slow, stately gazes upon various topics that might be considered traditional to Chinese poetry.