insights INSIGHT Desire Holds Many Hidden Desires ios_share
Desire often contains many nested desires and meanings beyond a single want.
Poetry serves as a vessel to hold complex, layered longings and their implications.
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insights INSIGHT Desire Intertwined With the World ios_share
Yu Xiuhua's poem blends erotic longing with vivid social and ecological detail.
The speaker frames desire alongside volcanoes, rivers, political prisoners, and hunted wildlife.
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insights INSIGHT Poetic Voices Are Constructed Selves ios_share
The poem's speaker may be a constructed voice, not a direct autobiographical confession.
Poetry lets writers try out alternate selves to access acts they might not claim directly.
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Get the app How far would you go for great love? And what distances would you cross?
Yu Xiuhua is a poet from Hengdian, in Hubei, China. She became well known in 2014 with her online poem “Crossing Half of China to Sleep with You.” In 2015, her debut book sold fifteen thousand copies in one day. The New York Times named her one of the eleven most courageous women around the world in 2017.
Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.
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