Welcome to the first of our World Poetry Youth Team Interviews. Please go to www.worldpoetry.ca to listen to Yilin Wang reading her poetry in English and Chinese on the World Poetry Cafe Radio Show. Hosts: Ariadne Sawyer (English) and Oparin Ortiz (Spanish) Featured Canadian Musician on tour: Susan Cogan from Salt Spring Island, www.susancogan.com New CD: The Fields of Friendship. Talented E-poet: Julie Corrigan from Prince Edward Island.
Yilin Wang is a Generation Z writer and journalist studying at the University of British Columbia. She loves using her poems to weave lyrical tales, play with language, and advocate artistic pursuits. She is a member of the Word Poetry Youth Team and read her poetry at 6 events in 2011, including at the World Poetry International Festival and Word on the Street Vancouver. Her fiction, poetry, articles, and reviews have been published in Youthink Magazine, What If? Magazine, and Canadian Newcomer Magazine, as well as in anthologies and on websites. As a freelance journalist, she specializes in interviews and profiles of creative professionals, successful youths, and Canadian immigrants. Currently, she is working on a magic realism novel for young adults and a collection of short stories. You can read her thoughts about the creative process and learn more about her work at yilinwriter.wordpress.com.
Where I am From
I am from the ragged shorelines of Yangtez River
Traffic jammed boulevards of Beijing
Splashing waters of Niagara Falls
Metallic skyscrapers of Vancouver
I am from a jade monkey birth pendant
My grandpa’s tales of foul spirits and warring kingdoms
Asian peace signs in front of cameras
Living rooms overcrowded with cousins and cigarette smoke
I am from the crimson neckties of Young Pioneers
Cotton hand-me-down uniforms scarred with grease stains
Metal bars of creaky school gates
Delighted cries at a top score on exam papers
I am from torn pages of watercolour landscapes
Stir-fries with pork chops and crunchy baby ginger
Illegible handwriting in spiral notebooks
Cards shuffled and fading and well-loved
I am from the scattered leaves of fall
Ridiculous dares accepted with joking courage
Forbidden trips to winding cobblestone hutongs
Games of police versus prisoners with preteen boys
I am from fractured memories of lands overseas
Black-and-white photos I no longer recognize
Clouds that shapeshift into trains and octopi and pirate ships
Musings on the symbols of a mosaic world
Yilin Wang (c)
