A Forest of Names

Download or read book A Forest of Names written by Ian Boyden and published by Wesleyan University Press. This book was released on 2020-09-08 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do we honor the dead? How do we commit them to memory? And how do we come to terms with the way they died? To start, we can name them. When schools collapsed in an earthquake in China, burying over 5,000 children, the government brutally prevented parents from learning who had died. Artist Ai Weiwei, at risk to his own safety, gathered the names of these children, and their names are the subject of this book. Each poem is a poetic meditation on the image and concept suggested by the etymology in the Chinese characters. This act of poetic translation is both a heartbreaking tribute to people whose names have been erased, and a healing meditation on how language suggests a path forward. July 30 Tiānwēi Celestial Awe He carried no iron into battle. When he lifted his hand, he brandished the sky.