Sampa The Great has tears, true tears, when the audience flows with her as a whole body. For myself, I felt touched by the courage of an outstanding presence, out of shyness.
All of this has gotten me thinking not only about language and its intricacies but about existing translated poetic work, from English to other languages, and vice versa. What makes a good translation?
At the same time, I read, with the whole world, a terrifying truth: an estimated one million Uighur people are detained in camps, arbitrary, by the Chinese government. So, I heard the poems with a melody of nostalgia and rhythm of un-defeated strength.
...a refugee camp is a safe place from war and persecution. But it is also a place of dependency on international organizations, of unemployment and frustrations, of misery and stigmatization.
