Original poem reprinted online here: "To Be Elsewhere" by Hsia Yü Originally read: November 6, 2013 More information about the Poet: Hsia Yü Translations. A part of me wants to read the original text, but then again, I don't know "The Chinese" (as Poetry Foundation states this translation is from). The poem itself deals with something missing, but I, as a reader, feel like I'm missing something in here as well. The first few lines detail out a tryst, "We met in a coastal village / spent a lovely night without leaving an address / going separate ways" I think the key with the opening line is the idea of a "coastal" village in a more thematic sense -- this sort of bridge between sea and the land which parallels both the speaker's and the other's ebb away from each other. Then the flow, "Three years later / we meet again by coincidence." This language is straight to the point -- there's not emotional tie in here, ...
Formerly the RetailMFA, This is the Poetry Blog of Darrell Dela Cruz