A poetry collection, a dream journal, a translation play, and a fluid community archive. 

Curated by Chinese Artists and Organizers (CAO) Collective 离离草 and collectively written by over 80 community members, the eleven poems are selected from community-based poetry writing workshops. Rather than offering answers, these poems propose questions about intimacy, healing, and care. What are the affective politics of our imaginative intimacies living in the diaspora? How can we build “home” by embracing ephemerality and vulnerability while being separated from “home” by geopolitical borders and distance? 

With these poems, we hope to invite (re)imagination rooted in diasporic experiences and a shared yearning for queer/feminist futures beyond survival. 

Founded in 2022, Chinese Artists and Organizers (CAO) Collective 离离草 creates art to empower relational community healing. They make space for nuanced narratives rooted in China, the Sinophone diaspora, and other experiences from the margins. Their interdisciplinary praxis interweaves collective poetry, performance, food art, clay, sound, and installation.

Website: www.caocollective.com

Email: caocollective@gmail.com

Instagram: @caocollective