How I wish I could accompany you to listen to the sound of your hair freezing

How I wish I could accompany you
Listen quietly to the sound of the hair tips freezing
Let a thousand dragonflies
Circling around our fingertips
It seems that here is the most beautiful
With the best chill
Let the dew soak your skin
Wild ginger fills the eyebrows
Let me be your darkest
As if, the brightest
That is the only way
——《Light in the Wasteland》

Liu Xinhui published her first poetry collection, "Golden Butterfly," in 2011. For the next decade, she lived alone in a small room built on four walls of ice, tirelessly removing ribs to dry clothes and burning her dreams to cook. Every day, ever-shifting light and shadows flickered across the transparent ice walls. Their silence, yet inexplicably resonant, was like the breathing and heartbeat of a newborn bird, alluring her in every way. To remain happy and lucid amidst the temptation, sometimes she raised her fist and pounded against the ice wall, eager to break the yawning gap between words and thoughts. Other times, she closed her eyes, doing nothing, simply listening to the slow icing of her hair, as if the sunlight were formidable, and the siege now brighter than escape.

Part 1: Butterflies Seeking Light Along the Water's Surface

She once thought that real life was a huge rock that hindered her creation, but now she realizes that real life is like sand, which turns into gold if kicked.

Volume 2: I wish you would stay close to me

Is love the devil of the heart, or a god? She remembers her mother who left home, bids farewell to a friend who passed away young, lets go of her lover's hand, and welcomes her child's growth. Fortunately, she can sublimate all the trials and tribulations encountered in love into sentimental hymns.

Volume 3: Faraway and Unreachable Places

She visited many places she longed for, sometimes gazing with bated breath at the flickering candlelight in the Vienna church, and sometimes reaching out to catch the falling snowflakes in the Kyoto Zen temple. She found the true utopia in poetry.

Volume 4: The splashing mud is also beautiful

The world is like mud, and the most frightening thing is a sudden downpour. She stood on the street, offering you an umbrella, understanding all your lonely struggles and feigned composure, accompanying you with poetry, hoping you would find your way out of your thorns.

I hope you will leave your habitual state and come here. Let her be your darkest, as if being the brightest is the only way.

Liu Xinhui

A native of Dahu, Miaoli, she graduated from Taichung Girls' High School and the Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling at National Taiwan Normal University, and holds a master's degree in Educational Psychology and Counseling from National Tsing Hua University. She has won the Ye Hong Women's Poetry Award and numerous literary awards. She is the author of the poetry collection "Golden Butterfly" (published by Comma Creative Society). Her works have appeared in various publications.

I enjoy dancing, gazing at the clear sky, and traveling alone. Reading poetry makes my heart beat faster, and writing poetry helps me calm my thoughts. These two are like wings of the soul, allowing it to soar through the cracks of life.

Welcome to my personal news station:
Late autumn, meeting in Prague
mypaper.pchome.com.tw/shinhui

Foreword: Bringing Light to the Barren Land, and Making the Light Sound Li Bimo

Volume 1 - Butterflies Seeking Light Along the Water's Surface
Muse
A soliloquy of melancholy, a small, paranoid, useless person dancing with an umbrella, writing poetry, brewing tea, Christmas morning prayers, the bitter china tree in March, a retreat from the world, solitude.

Volume 2 - I wish you were by my side <br />Light in the wasteland Image blessing Getting on the bus Night thoughts Lost Mourning postcard Ocean waves Narrative kiss
The Hesitation of Psyche
Tonight, I'm here, child, listening, calling you to sit opposite me. Requiem, sea beetle, echo cafe, apocalypse, memories of childhood, lush forests, gazelles, wandering in autumn.
Gotcha
Winter sun absent magnolia

Volume 3 - Faraway and Unreachable Places <br />A flash of light touches the snow, the music of the chase reflects, and a plea for peace sits in the teahouse, the source of cherry blossoms, meditation, a pilgrimage, a nap, and a flower offering, a short stop by the lake

Volume 4 - Even the splashing mud is beautiful <br />Marriage, June 4th silence, Playboy, dust, date paste pastry, missing the gangster hero, February 28th unblocking
Ithaca

Postscript - Strolling by the Lake of Poetry Liu Xinhui