Read the winning piece of our 2025 Nonfiction Contest “Through the Mirror” by Jessie Cato selected by Lucy Ives.

Read

Summer 1996 • Vol. XVIII No. 3/4 Poetry |

Coming Onstage

From the Mandarin.   

a childhood of blossoming diseases of the word 
we say no more 
pace leisurely through life 
see the ocean behind the fences 
the seasons in which we have taken rides 
leap in 
  
music is ruthless beyond comparison 
but marriages are strewn with distinctions 
a world-wearied man 
walks toward an exact address 
like evaporated smoke 
  
vast waves of sadness 
get children off the beds 
sunlight gathers and disperses 
we say no more

Read More

To Father

By Bei Dao

on a cold February morning oaks in the end are the size of sadness father, in front of your photo the eight-fold wind keeps the round table calm from the […]

Road Song

By Bei Dao

in the oblivion between the trees the lyric attacks by dogs at the end of an endless trip night turns all the keys of gold but no door opens for […]

Subscribe

Your free registration with The Kenyon Review includes access to exclusive content, early access to program registration, and more.

Donate

With your support, we’ll continue 
to cultivate talent and publish extraordinary literature from diverse voices around the world.