In James Deahl’s recent translation of ancient Chinese poet, Tu Fu’s poem, “Brief Spring,” he writes, “I watch butterflies andraid deep blossoms,/ Watch dragonflies skim the water’s surface.” and though Tu Fu speaks of this activity as “aimless” we realize thatbeneath the surface of such imagery the poet is engaged in important work.What is it then to preserve the history of ephemeral things, but to suggest the presense of the eternal in such studied attentiveness. So too, in the poems of Chinese Canadian poet Anna Yin, wherein dreams, desires, shadows, moonlight,memories find their qualities as interior and eternal in the presence of seen things.Butterflies. Fireflies. Lilies. Dewdrops. Spider webs. Winds. Breezes. Mists. Footprints. Snowflakes. Pinecones. All curve backwards into permanence. We know the quality of love is apprehended in loss. Exile need not lead to alienation. As she writes in her poem, “The Family Tree,”–”I wander this involute city,wish a wilted leaf blown back home.” That curious word “involute” with its double denotation meaning curling backwards and disappearing, and that noun/verb ”wish” remind us that this living poet’s captured moment is contemporary with the centuries old concerns and observations of Tu Fu. Poetry writing is important work. The hand may be a butterfly, but it leaves a permanent record of that which has always concerned us. If we leave a trace of what we are, we honour life.
–John B. Lee, Poet Laureate of the City of Brantford