I Live Alone

Perhaps I am Willing

perhaps I am willing

to be with you every day

raising ducks.

my heart, for the rest of my life

is a window pane

cleaned till it shines.

early in the morning we go somewhere near

to the simple-minded creek

the sun spreading our skins

with a deep glaze

and the healthy grass reaching over our knees...

Born in December 1969, Lu Ye is a Chinese poet. She did her B.A. and M.A. at Shandong University and is now teaching at the University of Jinan, China. She has won a number of poetry awards, including the National Award for the Young Poets by Poetry Monthly (2005), the People's Literature Award (2011) and the Distinguished Achievement Award by Poetry Exploration (2016). She has also been elected one of "the Top 10 Best Young Women Poets of the New Century", awarded by Poetry Monthly, the Chinese Writers Association (2006). She was the poet-in-residence in Capital Normal University, Beijing, China (2005), the poet-in-residence of the KHN Center for the Arts in NE, USA (2008), and a visiting poet and scholar in Creighton Univesity, Omaha, NE, USA (2006 and 2016 respectively). To date, she has published a number of poetry collections and novels in China.