Xiaoyan Fu is currently working as an education consultant in China. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Fudan University and a Master of Science in Education degree from the University of Pennsylvania. As a lover for languages and literature, she spends her spare time on reading and translation, which brought her to the Thousand Language Project, an initiative that speaks to her passion to forge connections in the world of words.

Xiaoyan Fu is currently working as an education consultant in China. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Fudan University and a Master of Science in Education degree from the University of Pennsylvania. As a lover for languages and literature, she spends her spare time on reading and translation, which brought her to the Thousand Language Project, an initiative that speaks to her passion to forge connections in the world of words.

Xiaoyan Fu is currently working as an education consultant in China. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Fudan University and a Master of Science in Education degree from the University of Pennsylvania. As a lover for languages and literature, she spends her spare time on reading and translation, which brought her to the Thousand Language Project, an initiative that speaks to her passion to forge connections in the world of words.

Beatrice Szymkowiak is a French-American writer and scholar. She graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts and a PhD in English/Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is the author of Red Zone (Finishing Line Press, 2018), a poetry chapbook, as well as the winner of the 2017 OmniDawn Single Poem Broadside Contest, and the recipient of the 2022 Agha Shahid Ali Prize in Poetry for her full-length collection B/RDS, published by the University of Utah Press in 2023.

Beatrice Szymkowiak is a French-American writer and scholar. She graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts and a PhD in English/Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is the author of Red Zone (Finishing Line Press, 2018), a poetry chapbook, as well as the winner of the 2017 OmniDawn Single Poem Broadside Contest, and the recipient of the 2022 Agha Shahid Ali Prize in Poetry for her full-length collection B/RDS, published by the University of Utah Press in 2023.

Il y a une fleur qui s’ouvre
Il y a des odeurs
Il y a une odeur de truffes (forêt en décomposition + terre)
Il y a une résistance à la domestication complète
Il y a une capacité à digérer ses propres excréments
Il y a une sculpture en bois sur un autel et
Là, une truie joue du violon
Une truie gitane
Il y a des gouttes de lait
Il y a la grandeur du Christ
––une grandeur si vaste
Il y a une capacité à manger des restes humains
Il y a toutes sortes de détritus
Il y a une abondance
Il y a une peur
Il y a une bouche et
Il y a un téton

Il y a une fleur qui s’ouvre
Il y a des odeurs
Il y a une odeur de truffes (forêt en décomposition + terre)
Il y a une résistance à la domestication complète
Il y a une capacité à digérer ses propres excréments
Il y a une sculpture en bois sur un autel et
Là, une truie joue du violon
Une truie gitane
Il y a des gouttes de lait
Il y a la grandeur du Christ
––une grandeur si vaste
Il y a une capacité à manger des restes humains
Il y a toutes sortes de détritus
Il y a une abondance
Il y a une peur
Il y a une bouche et
Il y a un téton

Agate, Alysson, Abricot––
Plaisirs simples que je peux toujours prononcer dans ce désert.

Le seul domaine de l’amour, la clarté
du sentier battu jusqu’à l’eau potable. J’hésite

à solliciter des réponses, me souvenant des autres
abandonnées dans un panier, un jardin, un puits.

Il ne reste personne à qui écrire
mais je raconterais l’arbre, son ombre suave

à midi. La mue intacte du serpent que j’ai trouvée
en creusant le sable en quête d’humidité.

Sur fond de montagnes brutes, son dos tourné
élagué par mes appels.