With Light and Dust

By Xi Nan and Fish Lu

With Light and Dust is a poetry volume bringing together Xi Nan and Fish Lu, two of the finest minds in contemporary Chinese literature. Comprising four different poetry selections, from Xi Nan's account of living in northern China in "1303" to Fish Lu's examination of modern mundanity in "Fire Hydrant,"

• Language: English
• Publisher: Terror House Press, LLC
• Release date: Apr 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781951897093

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Copyright © 2020 Terror House Press, LLC.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means (whether electronic or mechanical), including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

This is a work of nonfiction. While all of the characters and events depicted in this book are real, names and identifying details have been changed.

ISBN 978-1-951897-09-3

EDITOR

Matt Forney (mattforney.com)

TRANSLATOR

Xi Nan (xifish.wordpress.com)

LAYOUT AND COVER DESIGN

Matt Lawrence (mattlawrence.net)

TERROR HOUSE PRESS, LLC

terrorhousepress.com

Table of Contents

Part 1: Xi Nan

Preface: Urban Smell

1303

Three Lines (Selection)

Part 2: Fish Lu

Preface: Give Ordinary Things a New Poetic Meaning

The Thing is Like This (Selection)

Fire Hydrant (Selection)

PART 1: XI NAN

Preface: Urban Smell

This book includes two groups of long poems of mine: 1303 (full draft) and Three Lines (selection). They are about urban life and life itself.

In the summer of 2018, I lived in a city in northern China for a while. The door number of the apartment I stayed in was 1303, inspiring the poetry collection of the same name. This group of poems is a recording of fragments of the interactions between me and the surrounding environment (people, things...) during the period of time I lived in that northern city. Looking back now, that was exactly the time when some major changes were about to occur in my life. Although those major changes were not directly recorded in this group of poems, 1303 has made that period of time a lasting history. To me, it has an extraordinary meaning.

As for Three Lines, I believe I wrote them over a period spanning from spring 2019 to the beginning of autumn that same year. There was no particular reason for me to start writing them in the first place; perhaps at that life stage, I just didn’t want to bother with more in-depth writing. Three Lines therefore became a good vehicle for recording down some small emotions, small observations, small thoughts, and so on; anyway, they were all small things. Maybe readers can get an idea about the surface/some aspects of my (our) life in that several months’ time; thus, I think, it could also be sort of meaningful.

This is the first ever book that Fish Lu and I have published in English. I am very delighted and thankful to Matt Forney, Editor-in-Chief of Terror House Press, for offering us such a treasured opportunity. I hope to put my efforts towards some new writing in the coming months. I wish this book will resonate with our friends and readers, allowing us to communicate spiritually through words. Our readers could see themselves mirrored in another individual’s