Empty Chairs

In this bilingual collection that draws from 30 years of work, Liu Xia, wife of imprisoned Nobel Prize–winner Liu Xiaobo, lends an intimate voice to the experiences of a life stolen by government surveillance, repression, and house arrest. Liu’s work stands starkly against the tragic events that have had impact on her life: her husband’s 11-year prison sentence in 2009, her own house arrest in 2010, and her brother’s 11-year jail sentence. “I didn’t have a chance/ to say a word before you became/ a character in the news,” she writes in a poem dedicated to her husband. “I was worn down/ at the edge of the crowd/ just smoking/ and watching the sky.// A new myth, maybe, was forming there.” The translations, a collaboration between an American poet living in China and a Chinese poet living in America, balance craft and inventiveness with loyalty to the original. For instance, the lines “My heart has been placed in a glass bottle/ and now it doesn’t jump or beat, not even a bit,” retain the cadence and strength of the original language. Liu kindles hope and companionship, even when all is lost: “I want to finish writing/ every word with my heart at attention,/ for my friends who have given me warmth.” (Nov.)