Dizzy

by Xue Di

     translated by Hil Anderson and Forrest Gander

Your body, a tree
Its roots tangled
In the raw center of an open wound
My palms move tentatively
When we meet, it is a felling
Your face lights up like a fresh wedge
Of tree exposing the rings around your eyes,
Agonies recorded in the blanks between lines
Your sigh is a flock of birds
Nesting in the branches of your
youth.  Your eyes
are like insects curled
into fissures
In my heart’s
Darkness I gaze at you time and time
Again, trembling

DIZZY

“Dizzy” is a poem expressing the feeling of a separation of spirit between two lovers.  Even though they are in love, they cannot communicate through their hearts, only their bodies.  One’s existence has changed the other’s unique character and damaged its identification.  The lack of heart communication is the unfortunate theme of this poem.