Two Halves of the World Apple ─ Poems

An important voice in the “Third Generation” of contemporary Chinese poets—younger poets whose work emerged beginning in the late 1980s—Yang Ke has influenced his country’s literary culture for more than three decades. As the first English-language collection of his poems, Two Halves of the World Apple introduces readers to a prolific and accessible writer at the forefront of Chinese poetry today.

Rendered in English translations that deftly capture Yang Ke’s lyrical and idiomatic style, the 73 poems in this volume reflect the depth, breadth, and evolution of the poet’s work. Yang Ke’s poems, praised by literary critics for their use of clear, distinctive language and linguistic and poetic texture, pair arresting imagery with pointed social commentary. Moving across the landscape of classical and modern Chinese poetry, they engage with the natural, social, and moral complexities of the everyday modern world, from evocative portrayals of South China’s Zhuang minority culture to stark, personal depictions of the consequences of globalization. In this imaginative outpouring, the East and the West become two halves of an apple—“a ball struck by God’s bat,” spinning through the cosmos—“yin and yang fish chasing each other’s tails.”

Thoughtfully annotated by lead translator Denis Mair and with a foreword by Jonathan Stalling, this collection of poems showcases the best work of one of the leading lights of China’s contemporary literary scene.