Lien Chao’s Salt in My Life Reading April 7, 2020 – Posted in: Readings & Excerpts – Tags: Lien Chao, National Poetry Month, Poetry, Salt in My Life

Lien Chao’s latest collection contains seven chapters of bilingual poetry created in the past decade, covering a wide terrain of subjects, art forms, and poetic styles, including a reflective travelogue, lyrics inspired by situations, concise vocal lyrics for symphony orchestra, and finally, a multimedia-poetic stage production. By challenging the genre of poetry and its terrain, this new collection continues to build a cultural bridge across the boundaries between two totally different languages.

In the audio readings below, you will find two poems. First, “Walking with My Aged Father” in both English and Mandarin. She credits the background music to Melbourne 7 Melody Notes Orchestra, especially to Er-hu soloist, Mr. Zhu Chang Yue, who created sensitive, rhythmic, emotional tides in his performance of Taiwan folk music, Expecting the Spring Breeze.

The second poem bears the title of her latest collection, “Salt in My Life.” She reads the English version only. She credits the background music to Mr. Zeng Wen Tong, a percussionist in Hong Kong.

Lien Chao’s previous bilingual poetry collections are: Maples and the Stream(1999) and More Than Skin Deep(2004). Selected poems from both collections were chosen by composer Vincent Ho for chamber music with narration under the title, Maples and the Stream; it premiered in the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival on3 August 2013; https://vinceho.com/project/maples-and-the-stream/