Notes on the Mosquito: Selected Poems (New Directions Paperbook)

Highly recommended. Worth reading and re-reading. Most importantly, the English translations of Xi Chuan's poems are fine poems in their own right. Translating Chinese to English is not a straight-forward task, and as someone who can read a bit of Chinese, I appreciate the quality of the translation here, which renders the poems beautifully. Inevitably, the cadence in the original Chinese is lost, and some words translate a bit awkwardly, but the end result are fine poems nonetheless. I certainly find myself rereading passages and sharing them with friends. Xi Chuan is an acclaimed poet, and this volume will allow those who do not read Chinese to understand why.While a reader will probably not grasp the Chinese context, the Western literary references or meanings (Xi Chuan is quite well-read), the poems speak to the human condition in ways that will appeal to the general reader. They remind me a bit of a more literary William Stafford in their melancholy reflections upon the world.