William Slaughter is a Professor of English at the University of North Florida. He has been a Senior Fulbright Lecturer in China (1987-88) and Egypt (1980-81). He is the author of Untold Stories (1990), a book of poems, and the editor of Mudlark, an electronic journal of poetry and poetics. His poems and essays have been published in magazines ranging from Poetry to Exquisite Corpse, different worlds.
"The Politics of My Heart stands apart from all other China books that have mushroomed in the West before and after the Tiananmen tragedy. Neither academic nor journalistic, it is the pilgrim's progress of a poet-scholar to the Gate of Heavenly Peace.
"When William Slaughter arrives in Beijing with his 'peculiarly American innocence,' he celebrates the New China being built out of 'old lumber': 'New China, new music. / I'll grow new ears, / learn to hear it.' With 'a few small careful strokes,' he goes on to capture what he hears, not so much new music as new anguish set off by old voices of wisdom. He becomes one with Confucius and Laozi, he loves Xue Tao for her voice, he shares freedom of expresion with Shen Congwen and Bai Hua within the Chinese Wall. He falls hopelessly in love.
"But, when machine guns and tanks turn the Gate of Heavenly Peace overnight into the killing field, the pilgrim can only 'love it bitterly, ironically.' China has gotten under his skin, and China hurts. How can he not give voice to 'the lips that burn but do not speak'? The Politics of My Heart will get under your skin too. William Slaughter's heart is heavy, but his vision is undimmed: 'As the people in 'China get bigger, the leaders get smaller. Until no stone is left, until they're not there. At all.'
"Most of all, the simplicity and lucidity of his verse, reminiscent of the great classical poet Wang Wei, will go straight to your heart and haunt your memory."Wu Ningkun
Author of A Single Tear
New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1993
Copyright Page | Acknowledgments | Table of Contents
The TOC has in it several active links. A generous selection
of poetry and prose from The Politics of My Heart
is available there. Check it out.
Copyright © 1996 by William Slaughter. All rights reserved.
William Slaughter
The Politics of My Heart
Pleasure Boat Studio 1996
ISBN 0-91651413-0-6
Trade Paper $12.95