Yibing Huang

"Mistaken Love," a poem from assistant professor of Chinese Yibing Huang´s latest work Stone Turtle Poems

by Yibing Huang

"Mistaken Love"

We once loved each other and loved so deep
That we opened our arms and embraced together the planet that separated us

We once believed in lies and believed so deep
That we mistook mud for gold

But I will continue loving so deep
Letting every night press the planet downward with a squeaky sound

Until the groaning planet can’t bear the weight and falls into your embrace
But I will continue loving in such a stubborn fashion

Just like a burning flame in myth
Until mud truly is tempered into gold


Los Angeles, September 11, 1998
From: Stone Turtle: Poems 1987-200, bilingual edition with translations by Mai Mang. Godavaya, 2005

Yibing Huang (who is known by the pen name Mai Mang) was born in Changde, Hunan, China in 1967. He grew up during the Cultural Revolution and its aftermath. From 1983 to 1993 he studied at Beijing University, receiving his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. in Chinese literature. During the same time he established himself as a poet and was closely associated with a new generation of young poets based in Beijing.

Huang moved to the United States in 1993. Hs poetry has continually appeared in literary periodicals and anthologies in China. He also received another Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of California, Los Angeles. At Connecticut College he is an assistant professor of Chinese in the department of East Asian Languages and Culture.