Finding Them Gone

Awarded a Guggenheim fellowship to travel across China and visit the graves of 36 Chinese poets. Porter's intention was to place himself within the landscapes where the poets lived and wrote, to translate representative poems, and to present a travel narrative for an American audience. When Porter arrives at a specific site – often with the aid of locals who know the terrain – he improvises rituals that involve small cups of American bourbon, incense, and reading poems aloud in Chinese. (His whiskey cups are featured on the front cover of the book.)More than 200 translated poems, with Chinese originals, incorporated into the text. Many are translated into English for the first time.Travel takes place by foot, bullet train, taxi, boat, bus, motorcycle, cable car, farmer’s van, and, alas, ambulanceOn day 25 Porter breaks his ankle and is denied treatment at the first hospital he is taken to because he is a foreignerPorter is a very speedy and adept traveler, washing his clothes in hotel sinks, sleeping on trains and buses, hiring taxis for the dayWhen Porter finds a site closed, he bangs on doors, scales walls, and even tries to sneak into a military compound.