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The Lonely Word: Three Poems by Liu Xia

In this collection, originally featured in the May 2014 issue of Words Without Borders, Madeline Earp introduces the poetry of Liu Xia, who wrote under house arrest while her husband, Liu Xiaobo, served his prison sentence. 

The Lonely Word: Three Poems by Liu Xia
By Madeline Earp
Can words cross these thresholds, and offer a form of escape to those in confinement?
A Grapefruit
By Liu Xia
A life without pain / is an unpicked / fruit: it rots.
Translated from Chinese by Ming Di & Jennifer Stern
Multilingual
Word
By Liu Xia
The lonely word / is a terminal patient.
Translated from Chinese by Ming Di & Jennifer Stern
Multilingual
One Bird and Another
By Liu Xia
We kept the windows / open, remembering: bird.
Translated from Chinese by Ming Di & Jennifer Stern
Multilingual