The Magic Whip

I am an American woman living in the Republic of China. Wang Ping is a Chinese woman living in New York. This book builds a paradoxal bridge between the two cultures. It's painfully insightful and factual. The subject matter ranges from personal accounts of struggling in a new country to footbinding from the perspective of a young girl in China, to the the reality of war in a modern world. There are many different stories and concepts delivered through this book. I haven't found one yet of which I haven't devoured every word.If you study poetry and want to read some really well-written stuff, or are interested in women's rights, China, or have ever immigrated to a new country, I think you'll benefit widely from this read.

The weight of these poems is subtle. Ping interweaves her historical experiences with words that attempt to bisect her "foreign" and "native" selves. Metaphors emerge whose intricacies seem key to understanding the dual worlds contained in these poems. She uses the liminal space between prose and poetry to try to reach out and create a new form that can encompass the many things she needs to say. Very beautiful and honest work.