SELECTED POEMS

Ai Qing is considered by many to be one of the most important Chinese poets of the last century, and this audiobook of poems from his career helps explain why. Devoted to the land and people of China, he was imprisoned by both the Kuomintang and the Communists. The poems here range from an elegy to his wet nurse to a metaphorical treatment of the Japanese invasion, and the readings capture the depths of the poetry without tipping into sentimentalism. Some poetry is designed for bravura performance, but this is not, and the narrators respect its quiet self-control. The only improvement would be to add more of the author's many poems. D.M.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2022]