I Hear My Gate Slam: Chinese Poets Meeting and Parting

Poetry. Asian Studies. Translated from the Chinese by Taylor Stoehr. These adroit translations of an assortment of Classical Chinese poets provide modern readers access to an ancient lyrical tradition of celebrating real intimate lives. Equally a display of the contemporary practice of translation and of the specific power of the included poems themselves, Stoehr's collection suggests parallels between the lives of past and present. The effect of such a union between source and transmission leads David Budbill to marvel: "This is a passionate, clear, honest book of poems translated by a passionate, clear, honest man." A teacher as well as a writer, Stoehr helped found "Changing Lives Through Literature," an alternative sentencing program in Dorchester, Massachusetts District Court.