by Ming Di, translated from the Chinese by the author

In the Square of Heavenly Peace

after Ezra Pound

The aspirations of these young faces in the crowd—
plums crushed by a rust-bloody tower.

6/3/2019

天安门广场

仿庞德

人潮涌动着年轻的脸庞——梅李楚楚
碾碎在血色的铁城楼下。

2019.6.3.

Author’s Note:

Ming Di is a Chinese poet with six books of poetry and four in translation including River Merchant’s Wife (Marick Press. 2012). She studied English literature in China and linguistics in the United States and taught Chinese at Boston University before moving to California. She edited and co-translated New Cathay: Contemporary Chinese Poetry (Tupelo, 2013) and New Poetry from China 1917-2017 (Black Square, 2019). She received Luce Foundation fellowships in 2013 and 2014. She also translates from English into Chinese, most recent publication being Observations by Marianne Moore (Sichuan Wenyi, 2018). She is the co-translator (with Jennifer Stern) of Liu Xia’s Empty Chairs (Graywolf Press)