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By Liu Xiaobo. Graywolf Press, $26.
On June 4, 1989, Liu Xiaobo participated in the Tiananmen Square protests. In his collection of poems June Fourth Elegies, it becomes apparent that Liu cannot and will not depart from the scene of that day. Comprising 20 years of poetry, Elegies revisits the protests, memorializing those who were killed and attempting to atone for the indelible sins that took place on that day.
An author, literary critic and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, Liu has continually opposed actions taken by the Chinese state, resulting in years of imprisonment. Currently serving an 11-year sentence for helping to author the Charter 08 manifesto—demanding economic and social reform in China—he has become a champion of human rights to some and an apologist for capitalist principles to others. For its part, Elegies speaks to his commitment to change, but more so to profound loss.
Published in Chinese alongside the English translation, these poems contain a haunting repetition that mimics the brutality of that day; the relentless slicing of the bayonets, the grinding treads of tanks and the bloom of blood are ever-present. At times this reiteration of subject and imagery becomes heavy-handed and excessively macabre, but overall the starkly dark imagery is accentuated by Liu’s masterful use of simile and metaphor. Though Liu laments a collective loss of memory regarding past events, these verses will stand as witness in the future.