Poetry. Translation. Asian Studies. Major sequence translated from the Chinese by the author with well-known younger writer, Eleni Sikenianos. VERSES ON BIRD, to borrow Pound's phrase, is a coherent splendor: Where can we find enough names to name all these things in front of our eyes?/ Or enough adjectives to modify all these adjectives?/ Even after the shower has stripped the last bit of pink off the peonies/ There are still these unknown long and tiny pale violet downward curving bell-shaped clusters/ Held up by those wide and humble striped sheaves,/ Remnants of a pillar cup, cracked cement, collapsed basketball net hanging mid-air. Perfectbound chapbook. Also available as part of an 8 book set for $21. Please see listing under Jensen/Daniels set.

Author City: OLYMPIA, WA USA

Zhang Er is the author of three collections of poetry in Chinese, Seen, Unseen, Water Words, and Because of Mountain. She has multiple chapbooks in English translation, such as VERSES ON BIRD, THE AUTUMN OF GU YAO, and CARVED WATER. Other titles include VERSES ON BIRD and SO TRANSLATING RIVERS AND CITIES. She worked as a contributing editor for several Chinese poetry journals, such as First Line, Poetry Currents and Oliver Tre. She teaches at The Evergreen State College in Washington.