Tim Lantz reviews His Days Go By the Way Her Years by Ye Mimi 葉覓覓, as translated by Steve Bradbury (Anomalous Press, 2013) at the LA Review:

The chapbook was short-listed for the 2014 Best Translated Book Award, and for good reason. Steve Bradbury does a spectacular job Englishing Ye’s rousing syntax and rhythm—for example, from “The More Car the More Far”:

One day they drag a railroad track over for her, teach her how to belch black smoke from her fontanelles.

So then she cars up. Facing the track, facing the eaves.

I am precise. I am naughty. I am gravity.

For those who can read Chinese and English, part of the fun of the book is going back and forth between the languages to see how the poems work in both and how one has become the other (and thus an argument for including the original language in other translated works). In both languages, His Days Go By the Way Her Years is a beautifully weird book.

Click on the image for the full review.