Name: MOONLIGHT RESTS ON MY LEFT PALM
Rating: 4 (1 reviews)
ISBN: 9781911284727

Y XIUHUA

MOONLIGHT RESTS ON MY LEFT PALM

Yu Xiuhua

Starting with the viral poem “Crossing Half of China to Fuck You,” Yu Xiuhua’s raw collection in Fiona Sze-Lorrain's translation chronicles her life as a disabled, divorced, single mother in rural China. Yu Xiuhua was born with cerebral palsy in Hengdian village in the Hubei Province, in central China. Unable to attend college, travel, or work the land with her parents, Yu remained home where she could help with housework. Eventually she was forced into an arranged marriage that became abusive. She divorced her husband and moved back in with her parents, taking her son with her. In defiance of the stigma attached to her disability, her status as a divorced single mother, and as a peasant in rural China, Yu found her voice in poetry. Starting in the late 90’s, her writing became a vehicle with which to explore and share her reflections on homesickness, family and ancestry, the reality of disability in the context of a body’s urges and desires. Then, Yu's poem “Crossing Half of China to Fuck You” blew open the doors on the patriarchal and traditionalist world of contemporary Chinese poetry. She became an internet sensation, finding a devoted following among young readers who enthusiastically welcomed her fresh, bold, confessional voice into the literary canon. Thematically organized, Yu’s essays and poems are in conversation with each other around subjects that include love, nostalgia, mortality, the natural world and writing itself.

Poems and Essays

Moonlight Rests on My Left Palm

heather

I personally felt that this was a very interesting collection of essays and poems. The essays feel kind of like a memoir but I appreciate its inclusion here. The essays give better insight into Yu Xiuhua's philosophies on writing and living. It definitely helped me understand and appreciate her poems much more.

I'm a sucker for poems that incorporate natural imagery and Yu's use of it was quite profound. I feel like Yu (or maybe the way Fiona Sze-Lorrain translated it) tends to stick with using free verse/open form as a structure a lot, so the flow wasn't as captivating at times. Though aside from that, some of my favourite poems are In the Cotton Fields, Callosity, Love and Autumn Rain.

I love the poignancy in her approach on writing death too. Here is one of my favourite lines:

 "We are so remote from death, yet tortured beyond recognition by life itself." 

And lastly, the one quote that really spoke to me:

 "Because there exists no one purpose in life, we feel a constant void. Nothing but life itself can enter our lives. No matter how hard we try, all endeavours seem dissipated, unable to find their focus point. What a frightening reality. Yet no one knows the afterlife, whether it exists in a similar or greater void. So all we can do is to get by in life, one day at a time." 

Thank you NetGalley and Astra Publishing House for providing an eARC of this book!

MOONLIGHT RESTS ON MY LEFT PALM

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