Publisher's note: In this latest collection of poetry, Chip Dameron reflects on his travels across China, from Beijing to Lhasa, Xian to Hong Kong. He offers revealing portraits of modern China--a young dancer at an opera school, Tibetan orphans, an elderly man and his caged bird--and explores the implications of its political positions on outspoken Nobel laureates, Tibetan protesters, and Hong Kong entrepreneurs. Dameron pays tribute to the country's rich literary heritage in contemplating such poets as Li Bai, Du Fu, Li Qingzhao, and Tao Qian. The collection is enhanced by striking photographs from Vai Si and Chris Song and a cover painting by Sou Vai Keng.
In poems that range from ekphrasis and travelogue to conversation with ancient poets and reflection on how modernity impinges on tradition, [Dameron] employs this chapbook as a sort of love letter to China, one brimming with that warm, winking sense of irony about the human condition that pervades much of his work.
– David Bowles, The McAllen Monitor
Publisher: Purple Flag, Virtual Artists Collective, 2016