CONTENTS
Frontier Taiwan: An Introduction
Black Tide (seven selections) / Heartstrings (two selections) /
Tawny Cottages / Sad Song of the Female Worker
Rouge and Lips / The Nun / Burning Cheeks /
Veins and Butterflies / Autumn Sea / Travelogue / Pale Song /
Ruined City / Love Song / Sea of Flowers
Desert Wind / Remembering / Seashells (I) /
Gallery / Black Narcissus / Hair / Seashells (II)
City in Flames / To the Maybe Man / Song of Time No. 2 /
My Pagoda-Shaped Plan / Star-Plucking Youth / Dog Howling at the Moon /
Seven and Six / Composition in a Window / My Voice and My Existence /
Painter’s Studio / Wine Drinker / Psychoanalysis of Pipe Smoking /
Unfinished Masterpiece / Death of Aphrodite / Type-B Blood /
Before Completion. One / Bird Variations
Grave Sweeping This Year / Love / Taiwan /
My Pen / Maybe It’s the Weight of a Poem
Affair / May / Planting Rice Sprouts / Liquid Morning /
Seven-Colored Time / Liquid Flows Into the Cup of the Heart
Caltrops / Diary of a Believer / Mendicant / Prisoner /
Nine Lines / On the Ferry / Twelfth Month /
Sixth Month / Mountain / Polydactylism
Walking in the Rain / Forest / Carrier Pigeon / Wild Deer / Excuse My Rudeness / Find an Honorific for Mosquitos / Shadow / Incident
Philosopher / Books / Landscape No. 1 /
Landscape No. 2 / Traces (1–8)
Rebirth / Paper People / Beyond the Mulberry Tree /
Chimney / Death of a Stone Cell (four selections) /
Beyond the Fog / Fish / Gold Dragon Temple /
The Wound of Time / Sharing a Drink with Li He / Because of the Wind /
The Cricket’s Song / Metaphysical Game / Mailing a Pair of Shoes /
Beijing Sycamores / Funeral for a Poem /
I Buy an Umbrella Just to Lose It / Silent Pumpkin
The Four Strings of the Violin / Shrapnel—Tron’s Missing Leg /
Window / A Wild Horse / Where Light Lives /
Running Away / The Old Man Selling Flower Pots /
The City—Square Existence / Umbrella / Years of Poetry /
Readjustment of Twentieth-Century Space for Existence /
Who Could Purchase the Horizon?
To Morning / No More Blossoms Fly in Our City / A Green Lotus /
Umbrella / When All Living Creatures Go By / The Insect World
Dawn at Prosperity Corner / Tumor / Ivy /
The Setting Sun on Manila Bay / Possible / Rolling a Steel Hoop
When I Am Dead / The Double Bed / Green Bristlegrass /
If a War Is Raging Afar / Nostalgia / When Night Falls /
The Crystal Prison / A Tale on the Hill / Evening /
The Spiderwebs / The Pearl Necklace /
What Is the Rain Saying Through the Night? / The Langlois Bridge
Cousin Rat / The Ravenous Prince / Long Street /
The Anthill / The Ladder / The Maple Tree / The Gloves /
A Faun’s Afternoon / Giraffe / Overdrawn Footprints / Pigeons /
The Dog / The Mosquito / Electric Lock / Moonlight /
The Cat Who Walks Through the Wall /
Snow / Rooster / Railroad Crossing
A Song with No Melody / I Am a Glass of Unlimited Volume /
Ode to a Shabby Room / Shake the Head, Wag the Tail: A Seven-storied Pagoda / The Future: Four Versions
Umbrella / Shrine of the Village God / Funeral Parlor /
The Mountain God / Babylon / Spring Day /
The Buckwheat Field / Ship Rats / The Beggar /
Red Corn / Salt / Florence / The Monastery /
Abyss / The Catholic Nun / The Colonel /
Diva / Andante cantabile / Courtyard /
Song of the Ordinary / Resurrection Day
The Song of the Soil / The Zanzibar Lion / A Leopard /
Seen at the Shunxing Teahouse / The Speech of Stones
Life in the Mountains / Mistake / In Dreamland /
Watery Lane / Buddhist Chant / Skylight /
Stopping at a Minor Station / Still Life / Morning /
Afternoon / Pure Clarity / Border Inn /
The Temple Bull / Guests of Snow
Armchair / Sky / Cry / Weight /
Fugue / Pastiches from Taiwan Countryside (four selections) /
After the Show Is Over / The Man Who Knocked at the Outpost /
Nonmodernist Lyricism / For Lin Ling /
Two or Three Home Repairs in Spring
Thinking with Fire / Dark Associations /
I’m Already on My Way to You / Jar / Ripples / Life
News / Footsteps / Flowing River / In the Midnight Cornfield /
Screen / The Second Renunciation / Floating Fireflies /
Etudes: The Twelve Earthly Branches / Let the Wind Recite /
Zeelandia / Solitude / Forbidden Game (1–4) /
Someone Asks Me About Justice and Righteousness / Frost at Midnight /
For No Reason / The Traveler’s Heart: A Variation /
The Proposition of Time / A Tale / Solitude, 1910
Autumn Reminiscence / The Distance of Winter /
Words of a Goose Catcher / In Imitation of the Ancients /
Rice Straw / Rainy Season / Preface to Vignettes of My Village /
The Land / Animal Spirit Tablet / In the Woods of a Foreign Country /
I Won’t Discuss It with You / The Worst Thing About Writing Poetry
Memento of the Deceased / Prisoner of War / Aspiration of Poetry /
Tilting Island / Death Report / Reading Poems on a Late-Night Airliner
The Invisible Man / Heaven’s Revenge / The Avenging Ghost / Once More Looking out at the Deep Blue Sea After Looking out at the Deep Blue Sea Many Times Before / Córdoba / I Refuse / Please Just Wink / Quatrain
Beast / Peeling a Pear / Photocopier / Mixed Blood / Shadow Burial /
Sleep Deeply, Shore / That Horse Like Moonlight
Secret / On the Great Wall / Memory / Reading a Letter
Childhood Years, Part I: The 1940s / Spring’s Brief Visit to Taipei /
Since You Can’t Advance You Can’t Retreat Either /
Names Vanished from the Map (five selections) /
The Family of Acrobats / Freeze-Frame in the Midst of War (two selections)
Taiwan Rains / Broken-down Family Tree / Thinking, Worrying (I) / Whale /
An Alzheimer’s Kind of Love / Entombed Warrior
Frog / Snowfield / Vermilion Cabinet / A Wish / Universal Love, Not War /
Li Bai / The Tilapia in the Sky
The Lover of the Magician’s Wife / The Love Song of Buffet the Clown /
In a City Alarmed by a Series of Earthquakes /
Listening to Winterreise on a Spring Night / The River of Shadows /
The Edge of the Island / Microcosmos (ten selections) /
Autumn Song / The War Symphony / Formosa, 1661 /
Dialogue / Butterfly Air / Tunnel /
Under a Scorching Sun, a Stifling Noon, I Stared /
This is the Spring of Cynicism /
outside is the snow / Nightly Homecoming /
Life Is Not Worth Living / Let Me Be Your DJ
Father / Darling Letters (five selections) / The Wolf /
The Great Rains of ’93 / The Bookstore of My Dreams
Train Station / My Cares / Seed / Autumn Words /
Nine to Five / Uniform / Lesser Fullness of Grain / Great Heat /
Waking of Insects / Hoarfrost / Lesser Snow / Great Cold
The Story of Her Life / Out of Work / The Demon Platoon Leader /
Reading at Night / Martial Law / Eraser /
Sweet Revenge / Hibernation / Bronze / Poet’s Day / Picnic /
The Simple Future Tense / The Hidden Queen and Her Invisible City /
Parable / Children (1, 2) / Yarmidiso Language Family / Excuse /
Afternoon Tea / Memory / Ode on a Thing / Fauves /
Mozart in E-Flat Major / Ensemble Against the Wind /
Dancing with My Back to You / Spring Evening /
The Mercury That We Raised So Carefully / Reading / Postcard /
A Difficult Moral Question / FRICTION. INDESCRIBABLE /
The Ripest Rankest Juiciest Summer Ever /
Written for Others / Playerless Piano
My Dream Is Taking a Trip / Spring Sings in My Veins / Name Cards /
Numbers / Mr. D / The Idiot / Chair / A Bachelor’s Diary
The Lower Reaches / Posthumous Sons / Young Revolutionaries /
Hope / Tropical Rain Forest / Going Home / The Street Performer /
Delta in the Ocean / Showa Grass /
The Central Range of Little Bear Pinocha
Delirious / Spring 1985 / The Encounter / Dream / Transfer /
Going to Work / Leaving Work / Motorcycle
Clown Spirit / This Life / No Children Are Born in This Instant /
Ballpoint Pen / Bathroom / On TV After Dinner /
Message Board at a Train Station / Butterfly Dream /
Back to the Tribe! / Atayal (War, 1896–1930)
The Terminal / Prefatory Poem / The Lie of a Spring I Tightly Wind /
The Concept of “Non” / The Red Chamber
Zoo City (three selections) / A Drop of Juice Falls /
Woman Translating / No War / Suitcase Lost and Found /
Someone I Loved / Things Free of Me
Corporeal Form / A Flea Attends the Buddha’s Sermon /
My Compassionate Buddha / Body in Ruins / A Bowl of Rice /