Rong Yu’s poems are observational, zooming into the mundane routines of clipping toenails or getting a haircut. Detached and ironic, they imbue the texture of everyday life in the cafés, bars, kitchens and train carriages of Sichuan with a pervasive sense of youthful ennui. The concrete specificity of Rong Yu’s verse is frequently destabilised by his reflexive attention to language and the limits of poetic expression. Rong Yu has published a collection entitled That Glass of Water on the Table, and his work has featured in anthologies including The Young Are Writing Poetry and The Flowers Are Blooming, Aren’t They?
