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Cathy Xinman: A Love We Seek

Cathy Xinman 3
Cathy Xinman's poems address love, nature, and racism, among other topics.

In December, Pancouver introduced readers to Cathy Xinman, a B.C. resident who writes poems in English and Chinese. Below, you can read one of her English-language poems, “A Love We Seek”. It appears in her English-language collection, Where You Love Yourself.

A Love We Seek

Read spring with you,
read greens,
read you,
as if I read myself.
Let winter lose memory,
let the earth blow up pear blossoms,
let the wind feel cold,
and you feel beautiful.
Read time with you,
read the change,
read you.
It’s like reading the soul.
Let the sadness lose its flicker,
let the stone sink to the bottom of the ocean,
the water feels heavy,
and you feel light.

A love we seek.
Let spring scenery pass easily,
to observe the rose,
after the snowflakes.
Our shadow is in the ten thousand green bushes.
Let the sunshine perceive.
You won’t read that I’m getting old,
because time only passes by.
You must resign yourself to fate,
to read life with me,
read the youth,
read the journey, started by the spring breeze,
read its missing troubles,
you must admit defeat, as well locked in a seesaw struggle with the past.

When the glasses were laid on the table,
you ought to watch the Dayflower, and the wind grows leaves.
Stop arguing
whether it will rain or not,
or the rain will turn blue.
The air falls on us,
you must let it breathe.
In the gleam of grass green,
Let’s not miss.
It’s a quiet revelation.
And follow its teachings of the good.

Read spring with you,
read the sunrise,
it’s like reading life.
Wherever we go,
it blooms.
Let the sadness turn a blind eye,
let love be unable to stop.
I signed an agreement with the wind in spring.
You will fall in love with every flower,
It’s like falling in love with a sweet lip.
You will read spring in the green,
read the wind and rain in peace.

Xinman event
Cathy Xinman will offer a Zoom session in Mandarin later this week,, which will focus on the value of writing and reading poetry. This session is open to those who understand Mandarin.

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Support us

Pancouver strives to build a more equal and empathetic society by advancing appreciation of visual and performing arts—and cultural communities—through education. Our goal is to elevate awareness about underrepresented artists and the organizations that support them. 

The Society of We Are Canadians Too created Pancouver to foster greater appreciation for underrepresented artistic communities. A rising tide of understanding lifts all of us.

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We would like to acknowledge that we are gathered on the traditional and unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. With this acknowledgement, we thank the Indigenous peoples who still live on and care for this land.