Huang Xiang and Karen Swenson read “Listening to Mountains from behind Iron Bars” and “Solitary Confinement” at the 2009 Human Rights Book Fair.

Huang Xiang, poet, calligrapher and artist, gained an early fame after being published at age 17. Huang’s works have been banned in China since 1959 and he was imprisoned six times between 1959 and 1995. He is the recipient of two Hellman-Hammett grants from Human Rights Watch (1994 and 2007). He lives in New York with his wife Zhang Ling.

Listening to Mountains from behind Iron Bars

In the eyes
a single
bird
overhead
a bouquet of
clouds
on the lips
a drop of
water
lonely toes
split open
stone-chiseled
thoughts
drips
drops
a
clear
note
nobody hears
a simple moment
after
a
single
glance


Solitary Confinement

Water
Drops
Are the only
Drops of
Daytime
Scenery
Dreams
Clear and melodious like
Night
Bells
Years of pitter-patter
Ring
Out
On prisoners’ bare-heads
The
Stone-chime
Droplets
Penetrate
Their
Gloom
A thousand prisoners share
This
Instant
A thousand dreams share
This
Drop

April 11, 1990  At night, in Wang Wu Prison
Revised January 14, 1991

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