Poem in anthology None So Raw As This Our Land

Andrew’s poetry is represented in a new anthology, None So Raw As This Our Land, published jointly by the Association of Stories in Macao (ASM), Cerberus Press and the Westerly Centre at the University of Western Australia. The anthology contains the original English texts of poems by 17 Western Australian poets along with translations of those texts into Chinese. The editor is Christopher (Kit) Kelen, while the translators are Iris Fan Xing, You Chengcheng and Song Zijiang.

Professor Delys Bird of the Westerly Centre, UWA, writes on the back cover blurb:

This unique anthology is the product of an equally unique project, involving Chinese translators from the University of Macau, and members of the project’s host, the Westerly Centre at The University of Western Australia. Intense discussion between poets and translators enriched the sometimes barren work of translation, resulting in a truly cooperative work, bringing together the poetry of seventeen West Australian writers. Their work demonstrates the strength and breadth of Western Australia’s writing culture as well as the impressive range of their voices. The anthology is significant as it makes that poetry available to a culture with the largest number of language speakers in the world. Yet this book delivers something even more important, creating connections between cultures through poetry and rendering effective and affective, those imaginative meetings.

Andrew’s poem in the anthology, “Finishing Up”, is translated by You Chengcheng. Both the poem and the Chinese translation are included below.