Impossible Paradise: Selected Poems

The Poetry Book Society Translation Choice Spring 2026

‘ May the stone steps and the deep-sleeping door summon
the camellia’ s impossible paradise
and your face the impossible key
May the window shudder
May the notes be blue
and the candleflame shake unequivocally’
(from ‘ May the Rain’ )

One of Taiwan’ s most celebrated poets, Chen Yuhong draws on both Western and Asian literary traditions, inflected by her work as a translator of contemporary English-language women poets (Glü ck, Oswald, Duffy)....