Running Away

Vivid, honest, and boldly resilient, Ha Jin's latest poetry collection, Running Away, adopts a chorus of narrative voices to tell stories of desperate migration. These poems shift in language and geography, they move across borders and “echo the voices / of those who pant and groan / under heavy loads." Often returning to the path of undocumented migrants trekking to the United States by way of South America, these poems navigate dangers and visceral fears, they are pulled forward by the migrant's hope and desire for liberty in a new country—for “the land destined to become their home."

Speaking out against authoritarian governments, Ha Jin unambiguously celebrates departure and praises freedom.