A Glance

Translator’s note: In her early twenties, Zheng Min was influenced by some of the most important early modernists in China such as Feng Zhi, Bian Zhilin, Shen Congwen, Wang Zuoliang, et al. while a student at Southwest United University (a joint unit of Beijing University, Qinghua University, and Nankai University) during World War II. “A Glance” (undated) was first published in 1946. Her first collection of poetry, Poems 1942–1947, includes a few other poems inspired by paintings, showing her early interest in art. Using paintings, sculpture, and music as springboards to poetry informed Zheng’s practice throughout her writing career, which reflected the influence of Wen Yiduo, but she seemed to focus more on the visual effect and musicality of the total structure of the poems running through the lines.

Zheng Min (1920–2022) was one of the most important poets from China. She taught poetry at Beijing Normal University from 1960 till retirement in 2006. Her Collected Poems appeared in 2016. Also an accomplished translator and critic, she published Contemporary American Poetry (1987) and four books of critical essays on Western philosophy and comparative poetics.

Ming Di is a Chinese poet living in the US with six books of poetry published in China. Co-founder and editor of PoetryEastWest, she translates both ways and has published four books of poetry in Chinese translation and two anthologies. She received the 2021 Lishan Poetry Award (for translation) in China.