Wang Ping was born in China and came to USA in 1986. Her publications include American Visa (short stories, 1994), Foreign Devil (novel, 1996), Of Flesh and Spirit (poetry, 1998), The Magic Whip (poetry, 2003), The Last Communist Virgin (stories, 2007), all from Coffee House. New Generation: Poetry from China Today (1999), an anthology she edited and co-translated, is published by Hanging Loose. Aching for Beauty: Footbinding in China (2000, University of Minnesota Press) won the Eugene Kayden Award for the Best Book in Humanities. In 2002, Random House published its paperback. She is the recipient of National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York State Council of the Arts, Minnesota State Arts Board, the Bush Artist Fellowship, Lannan Foundation Fellowship, and the McKnight Artist Fellowship. She is associate professor of English at Macalester College.
Dust Angels
stars, diamonds, tears of hearts
sand and cut, cut and sand
shrouded in silicon fog
we string beauty with corn husking hands
bracelets, necklaces, rings
day and night, night and day
we bend over screeching wheels
making trinkets for USA
saints, gods, Buddha
rush down the belt at a dizzying speed
a quarter cent a piece--price
of our hands, nation’s pride
a civilization eating us alive
opal, malachite, topaz
stones from deep--sold cheap at Wal-Mart
our lungs harden from quartz crystals
our lives weigh less than dust
we cough and wheeze
we gasp for air walking half a block
they say we fake sickness
have never worked in their factories
they hire lawyers to erase our names, ban our union
Marx and Mao are history, they claim
only freedom of market economy
the golden path towards democracy
no money to go home
no face to see parents, wives, children
all bridges collapsed--
we loiter in hospitals, courts
we pray not to die in this strange land
dust angels, dust angels
who wear the stars and hearts strung with our tears?
Who make a fortune from our wretched breath?
who will see us--
of all the Buddha and saints
carved out of our bodies
all the eyes of Mary and Jesus
painted in our blood
Wang Ping
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