– Du Fu. excerpt from Expressing What I Have Felt in Traveling from the Capital to Fengxian County
translated by Paul Rouzer
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– Du Fu. excerpt from Expressing What I Have Felt in Traveling from the Capital to Fengxian County
translated by Paul Rouzer
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for Michael S. Harper
Billie Holiday’s burned voice
had as many shadows as lights,
a mournful candelabra against a sleek piano,
the gardenia her signature under that ruined face.
(Now you’re cooking, drummer to bass,
magic spoon, magic needle.
Take all day if you have to
with your mirror and your bracelet of song.)
Fact is, the invention of women under siege
has been to sharpen love in the service of myth.
If you can’t be free, be a mystery.
– Rita Dove. Canary
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