My Name Will Grow Wild Like a Tree: Selected Poems

Trade Paperback

Yi Lei published her poem A Single Womans Bedroom in 1987, when cohabitation before marriage was a punishable crime in China. She was met with major critical acclaim – and with outrage – for her frank embrace of womens erotic desire and her unabashed critique of oppressive law. Over the span of her revolutionary career, Yi Lei became one of the most influential figures in contemporary Chinese poetry.

Passionate, rigorous, and inimitable, the poems in My Name Will Grow Wide Like a Tree celebrate the joys of the body, ponder the miracle of compassion, and proclaim an abiding reverence for the natural world. Presented in the original Chinese alongside English translations by Changtai Bi and Pulitzer Prizewinning poet Tracy K. Smith, this collection introduces American readers to a boundless spirit – one composing an explosion.