Flowers hanging upside down

"I think light is good, but I have no intention of separating anything. This world is still good. At least I cannot give up believing in what I love. Lies are like smoke, but it is not what is said, but what we can know."
——Included in "Flowers Hanging Upside Down"

"Flowers Hanging Upside Down" is Liu Qinghong's first poetry collection, organized chronologically into three volumes: "Introduction to Linguistics," "Similarity: Tai Chi," and "Flowers Hanging Upside Down." It includes sixty poems written between 1999 and 2015. Volumes 1 and 2 feature works from his college years and the first few years after graduation. While some of these works are minor, they may seem distant in the present, ultimately, it's crucial to find a place for past lives. Volume 3 represents his return to writing after a six- to seven-year hiatus, intermittently.

If we were to summarize the main thesis of these three collections, it would be to use poetry to dialectically verify oneself and to write about the gaps opened up by language and existence, that’s all.

Liu Qinghong

A native of Kluang, he studied at New Era College and graduated from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Feng Chia University in Taiwan. He currently teaches.

There are far more times when we have nothing to say than when we have to say something. When we have to say something, we express it through poetry.

He has won first prize in new poetry in the National College, Huazong, and Youchuan Literary Awards.