{"product_id":"9781555979140","title":"Empty Chairs: Selected Poems","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe first publication of the poetry of Liu Xia, wife of the imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient Liu Xiaobo\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eI didn't have a chance\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eto say a word before you became\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ea character in the news,\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eeveryone looking up to you\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eas I was worn down\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eat the edge of the crowd\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ejust smoking\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eand watching the sky.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eA new myth, maybe, was forming\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ethere, but the sun was so bright\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eI couldn't see it.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e —from \"June 2nd, 1989 (for Xiaobo)\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eEmpty Chairs\u003c\/i\u003e presents the poetry of Liu Xia for the first time freely in both English translation and in the Chinese original. Selected from thirty years of her work, and including some of her haunting photography, this book creates a portrait of a life lived under duress, a voice in danger of being silenced, and a spirit that is shaken but so far indomitable. Liu Xia's poems are potent, acute moments of inquiry that peel back to expose the fraught complexity of an interior world. They are felt and insightful, colored through with political constraints even as they seep beyond those constraints and toward love.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Graywolf Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47128421073136,"sku":"9781555979140","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781555979140_p0.jpg?v=1763756338","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781555979140","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}