By Anna Keiko (Shanghai, China)
On Going to Pau
By Anna Keiko (Shanghai, China)
I almost forgot I was in a foreign land,
Like a black bird eagerly pecking through the dawn.
The rails stretch out like a lasting hymn,
The crisp wind carries the fragrance of France.
Outside the window,
The vineyard, unwilling to be lonely,
Stirs waves of my thoughts.
When Pierre held up the sign saying “Anna Keiko,”
In that instant, I forgot the bumps and fatigue of the journey,
As if ASSAT
Had always been my home in a past life.
September 6, 2025
Written at ASSAT
NO2
The First Encounter
By Anna Keiko
Barefoot, he stands before the castle gate
As if awaiting a beloved’s return
Or like an eagle spreading its wings
To embrace her tenderly.
In an instant, two lost swallows
Arrive together at their spiritual home
The world changes its colors from then on
The sky full of stars resembles ripe grapes in the garden
Oh, my lover from a past life!
Look, the moon is conversing with us too
Its heart, untouched by seasons
Even in September, still wanders through summer’s currents
Scorching, rising, flickering uncertainly
September 6, 2025, Night
Written at Assat Castle
NO3
Assat Concert
By Anna Keiko (Shanghai, China)
How fortunate!
The annual Assat concert—
The village’s grandest event.
A band from England,
Young fellows strumming guitars,
Voices pouring out melodies sweeter than birdsong.
The audience keeps the beat,
More spirited than the moon.
Children bounce and hop before the stage—
They symbolize the future.
When you slip Foie Gras into my mouth,
Oh,my very being responds:
This rustic flavor is truly wonderful!
As I eat,I clap with all my might.
The singer,energized, steps closer —
Their teasing eyes
Like dancing stars.
In that moment, I forget the 850-kilometer journey,
Recording endlessly with my phone.
I am like a drunken pigeon
Spinning round the moon.
September 6, 2025, evening
NO4
The Autograph Book at the Arc de Triomphe
By Anna Keiko (Shanghai, China)
Unexpected?
Yes, perhaps not.
Through Tim’s radiant introduction —
An officer adorned with nine medals
Salutes a poet he has never met,
His smile like the bright Paris sky.
In the solemn ceremony,
A staff member lifts the signature book,
And presents it before me.
I read aloud the three characters: “Li Xiannian,”
Standing beneath the grand arch,
Breathless, nervous, yet joyful —
In that moment,
I was like a fish just lifted from the Seine,
Gazing into this wondrous world.
September 22, 2025
NO5
That Touch the Soul
By Anna Keiko (Shanghai, China)
I’ve searched to the ends of the earth —
No one has held an art exhibition for me,
No one has taken me to stroll in parks or shop,
No one has introduced me to their friends,
No one has invited me to lunch with their Family members
In my life,
No one has made me long to share my time,
No one has made me cross borders to meet,
No one has moved me to tears of joy.
But my dear fool, you did.
You are my confidant and kindred spirit,
You are my dearest friend, my eternity.
At the edge of the world you touch,
There spreads
A kindness and gentleness never seen before.
Written in Zurich, Switzerland
September 30, 2025, 5:04 AM
NO6
The 13th Arrondissement
By Anna Keiko (Shanghai, China)
The air carries a sweet fragrance,
The weather shifts between sun and rain.
You kiss it,
It kisses you—
Sometimes drizzles soak your clothes,
Sometimes the sun kisses through your skin.
At eight in the evening,
Sunlight slips over rooftops and wanders through treetops.
You push the window open gently, breathing in a city’s laughter,
Lounge on the sofa, sipping the richness of coffee,
Biting into chocolate, lost in its lingering spell.
You could still go out for a bite of French bread,
Sip a glass of sparkling wine,
Read the footsteps of passersby,
Or from the rustle of clothes and shuffle of shoes
Conceive a painting, a poem—
That is the deepest delight.
The 13th arrondissement is Paris in miniature:
Couples lip to lip in roadside cafés,
That purest human tenderness.
In an instant, emotions stir, as if spring has returned to the world.
Heart racing, shy, hesitant, you cry to the sky—
“Give me back my eighteen years!”
Flushed cheeks imprinted on the colorless air,
You beyond caring, they beyond noticing.
October 3, 2025, 0:50
NO7
Engraved in the Soul’s Memory
By Anna Keiko (Shanghai, China)
Every love holds its secrets
You’re inexplicably drawn to him
He is the polar light
Elusive as clouds drifting across the sky
You understand, yet struggle to break free
Your heart, your memories
Like words carved into stone—unerasable
Tangled, bewildered, helplessly ensnared
It’s neither intentional nor explicable
Yet this magnetic pull
Grips you relentlessly
November 3, 2025
NO8
Welcome to Paris.
——Tim
By Anna Keiko (Shanghai, China)
Hello!
Welcome to Paris.
Paris is magical —
Come to Paris.
So says the renowned French poet and artist Timothy Bordaneuf.
If you wish to enrich your vision, come to Paris.
If you are a lover of literature and art, come to Paris.
If you are an architectural designer, you must come to Paris.
The air of Paris carries the fragrance of spring,
Aroma fills the streets, cafés line every corner.
When tired, choose a spot and sip a coffee.
Here, passersby walk with light steps, less hurried than those in Shanghai,
Eyes lowered, speaking softly,
Their faces like an innocent September sky.
Yet Paris is also a city that stirs desire:
The art sanctuary of the Louvre,
Notre-Dame’s Esmeralda,
The Champs-Élysées of Armand and Marguerite,
And the Élysée Palace’s power reminds me of Napoleon.
These are the histories of France —
In the air, in museums, in textbooks,
Lingers the tales of Père Goriot and La Dame aux Camélias.
NO9
Impressions of Paris
By Anna Keiko (Shanghai, China)
A city —
vitality amassed through time —
cannot be fully told.
Each house holds untold stories;
only the sun shows no hidden thoughts.
Its tears and laughter hold meaning,
yet you need not understand,
just as flowers on Parisian balconies
represent nothing, like a maiden —
their mere presence paints the scenery.
If you ask what left the deepest impression,
Parisian men are true gentlemen,
Parisian women breathe with charm,
Parisian architecture gathers Europe’s varied styles,
and Paris itself —
its natural grace, its literary soul —
wanders through streets and ports.
Murals on walls
form living landscapes,
vibrant art in the now.
My friend says the art of the Louvre and Montmartre is noble,
yet street art remains a mirror of common life.
When fatigue sets in, sit down, have a coffee,
savor the ease brought by foreign culture and slow living.
NO10
Contemplation
By Anna Keiko (Shanghai, China)
How many paths must one walk to reach
that unknown polar realm?
What lies stored in the cold palace
bathed in sunlight—
flowers, or coffee,
or perhaps
a wilderness teeming with creeping insects?
06:02 November 2, 2025
Anna Keiko, a distinguished poetess and essayist from Shanghai, China, has made a profound impact on contemporary literature. A graduate of Shanghai East China University with a Bachelor’s degree in Law, she has achieved global recognition for her poetry, which has been translated into more than 30 languages and published in over 500 journals, magazines, and media outlets across 40 countries. Keiko is the founder and chief editor of the ACC Shanghai Huifeng Literature Association and serves as a Chinese representative and director of the International Cultural Foundation Ithaca. Her affiliations extend to Immagine & Poesia in Italy and the Canadian-Cuban Literary Union, reflecting her commitment to fostering cross-cultural literary exchanges.
Her poetic oeuvre spans six collections, including “Lonely in the Blood and Absurd Language”, showcasing her exploration of human emotions, environmental concerns, and existential themes. Her innovative style and evocative imagery have earned her numerous accolades, such as the 30th International Poetry Award in Italy and the World Peace Ambassador Certificate in 2024. Notably, she was the first Chinese recipient of the Cross-Cultural Exchange Medal for Significant Contribution to World Poetry, awarded in the United States in 2023. Her works, including “Octopus Bones” and other acclaimed poems, have resonated with readers worldwide, garnering invitations to prominent international poetry festivals and conferences. Her dedication to the arts extends beyond poetry, encompassing prose, essays, lyrics, and drama, underscoring her versatility as a writer. Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2020, Anna Keiko continues to break barriers, bringing Chinese literature to the global stage.
Biography
Anna Keiko, originally named Wang Xianglian, was born in Wuyuan County, Jiangxi Province, China. She is an internationally renowned poet, painter, and editor, currently residing in Shanghai. In 2016, she founded the ACC Shanghai Huifeng International Literary Society and its international online magazine, serving as President and Editor-in-Chief. Additionally, she holds the positions of China Representative for the Spanish Cultural Foundation ITHACA, partner for Italy’s “Art and Poetry” association and the US Cross-Cultural Communication Association, and Council Member of the China Youth Literature Association. As a proactive promoter of world poetry, Annakeiko received the UNESCO-certified “International Ambassador for Peace Outstanding Contribution Award”. Her poems have been translated into over 30 languages, with more than two thousand works published in over 500 newspapers and magazines across more than 60 countries globally. To date, she has published 11 personal poetry collections, one translated work, and has edited or contributed to dozens of poetry anthologies.
Anna Keiko has been frequently invited to significant international poetry festivals and has received over 30 international poetry awards, including the Italian 30th “Seppia” International Literary Gold Prize and the “Poetry Excellence Outstanding Contribution Award” from the US Cross-Cultural Association – the first time this award was given to a Chinese poet since the association’s establishment over 50 years ago. Domestically, she has received the Shanghai Citizen’s Poetry Festival Award three times and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2020. In 2022, Anna Keiko was interviewed by the renowned Chinese military poet Senior Colonel Xue Xixiang. The related content was fully reported by the US’s largest Asian news media, “Southern US News”, and published across two full pages in the overseas edition of the “People’s Daily”, generating widespread social influence. That same year, Shanghai “Xinmin Evening News” reporter Zhou Nan produced a featured interview with her. The preface poem from her collection “The Language of Deep Sleep” was broadcast on Shanghai People’s Broadcasting Station, and she was interviewed by the station’s host, Han Jiang.
In February 2025, she was interviewed by the renowned Italian poet, journalist, and translator Angely Kosta, with the article published in several countries. In September 2025, she was interviewed for the art program of Paris TOPTv. Also in 2025, her paintings were exhibited at the Paris Art Fair, Galerie La Fabrique, and several other art galleries and spaces. In August 2024, Annakeiko co-edited with Chilean international editor Luis Cruz-Villalobos “Contemporary Chinese Poetry in English – Dragon Songs”, published in Chile. The anthology features works by 30 outstanding poets from mainland China, sold globally via Amazon, promoting the globalization of Chinese poetry. That same year, the ACC Shanghai Huifeng International Literary Society she founded jointly organized the “International New Year Poetry Gathering” with the North American Poetry Association, attracting poets from 26 countries.
The ACC Shanghai Huifeng International Literary Society established by Anna Keiko has repeatedly co-organized international poetry events with the US North American Poetry Association and has successfully held numerous poetry recitation events both online and offline in China. Furthermore, the Shanghai Huifeng International Literature WeChat public account and several websites she oversees have published collections from poets in over 100 countries. She has also published a significant number of poetry critiques, essays, and dramatic works.