Wind Crossing Grasses
Poems from China’s Dragon Rivers
$30.00
Out of stock
Experience the poetic splendor of 'Wind Crossing Grasses,' a collection of evocative poems translated by Wang Ping, with an illuminating introduction by Gary Snyder and photos by Wang Ping. This beautifully crafted book transports readers to the heart of China's Dragon Rivers--the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers that flow through the Middle Kingdom and its cultures, offering an unparalleled glimpse into the nation's natural wonders and profound cultural heritage. Whether you are a poetry aficionado or a lover of Chinese culture, this masterpiece is sure to captivate your soul. With its elegant and breath-taking design, this book is perfect for both personal enjoyment and as a thoughtful gift.
Exciting books forthcoming:
Wind Crossing Grasses: Poems from China's Dragon Rivers
Theory of the Girls, Poems by Maria Baranda, tr. Paul Hoover
Song of King Salmon, Illustrations by Eric Afuso, story by Ping
From the Qinghai Tibet Plateau, the high roof of the earth, a wind blows. With the blowing wind, two great rivers flow—the Yellow and Yangtze. They’re the twin dragons of China, flying through Sichuan Yunnan gorges, Loess Plateau, Mongolia Steppe, deltas’ fertile fields, before entering the Bo Sea and East China Sea.
Everything moves with the wind: grass, trees, rivers, mountains, emotions, poetry.
It shakes, awakens and transforms, transporting things from place to place, carrying soil, seeds, life and death over mountains and seas, creating Loess, deserts, grassland, farming fields.
It is the qi of the earth and sky, stirring roots, awakening spirits, lifting waves and typhoons, carrying birds from one pole to the other.
It makes souls yearn for something beyond the body. Poets sing to the wavering trees, and dance to the rhythm of rivers and mountains.
Chinese call it 风 feng—wind, which also means poetry.
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This anthology brings new songs from the high mountains, steppes and grassland of China’s west: Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia and Mongolia. As the roof of the world, Asia’s water tower and the gates to the East and South of China, the upper reaches of the Yellow and Yangtze have greatly influenced Chinese landscape of poetry and music. The wind and water from the sky, mountains, rivers, Gobi and grassland moved the hearts of the poets, whose images and music pulled the translator’s heartstrings and brought out tears of joy. The poems took the translator back to the high sky, mountains, plateau and steppe, where she’s roamed many times over the years, alone and with American poets, musicians and filmmakers. Something happens when you’re so high on the mountain, so close to the sky, so deep in the river, so free in the wind, so far away from desire, ambition, money, power…The land somehow restores you as human, as animal, as grass, as life. The only thing that matters is how to breathe, one breath at a time, how to walk, one step at a time, how to live, truly and happily.
All water flows down mountains.
All rivers run to the sea.
Follow the mountain and river, one finds the poets.
They sing and dance with dragons.
Their songs awaken the dragons, lifting mountains and rives to the sky.
That’s what poetry is: a wind, a leaf of grass that ties time and space together.
It’s about time we hear their wind in the Turtle land of America.
If these poems move you, if you want to hear and feel more, please do not hesitate to follow the two rivers and fly with the dragons. It’s the only way to know China.
Gary Snyder & Wang Ping