Li Dewu, born in 1963, is a poet and literary critic. His poems and essays were first published in 1984. His collections include A Chokey Clock and A Collection of Li Dewu’s Poems and Essays. A cooperative book Selected Poems of Nine Poets, which features his work, was published in 2000. From 1980 to 2002 he lived in Harbin. He now lives in Suzhou. With regard to poetry and translation, he says: “Poems are the spiritual reflections of poets. Writing poems is to explore the void in the secret heart. With regard to the truth, poetry doesn’t need verification. One word is one spiritual being. Translation is not to transfer a word but to wake up another soul in another language. I will not deride the accuracy of translation. But if my poem can give a new life to an English word, even though it is not my original idea, I would also feel delighted and inspired.”