Anna Huizi (Annakeiko) - Poem cycle
Moderator 
1. SOME MOMENTS
Some moments
God wipes my eyes clear,
and I see my true self.
Other times
something blocks my sight,
and I fall into endless dark.
The same you, different experiences -
this is what living means.
As long as I stay true to my own principles -
harm no one, think often,
keep my discernment -
Living is not just passing through light and shadow,
but staying clear and awake in their turning.
That alone makes me worthy of my own existence.
May 8, 2026
Annakeiko
2. MOTHER'S DAY
Elsewhere
No need to cry secretly at night.
New home, surrounded by hills,
low clouds as walls,
withered vines and wild grasses woven into new clothes,
fluttering in the wind.
Searching for you in memory -
the busy figure pounding laundry.
Ten years have passed since we parted.
Who knows
how your days have been?
The worry carved upon reality's face,
so much unease -
already impossible to return to.
May 9, 2026
Annakeiko
3. TOOTH EXTRACTION
Dear,
don't worry about the tooth extraction.
It must hurt a lot.
It's okay.
I'm sending you a few seeds.
Plant them where you can see them.
When I lost a tooth as a child,
Grandma would go to the garden and plant trees and grapes.
She said, when the pine tree grows,
the tooth will grow back too.
Seeing that, my tooth stopped hurting.
Because the seeds will take its place.
It sounds silly, but then I really laughed.
So friendship is this wonderful.
May 8, 2026
Annakeiko
4. ON GOING TO PAU
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
Alluring vineyard
Stirs waves of my thoughts.
When Pierre held up the sign saying "Annakeiko,"
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 2 2026
Written at Assat
Annakeiko
As a promoter of international poetic culture, she has received the Outstanding Contribution Award as International Peace Ambassador certified by UNESCO, and the Poet Outstanding Contribution Award from the American Cross-Cultural Association - the first Chinese poet to receive this honor in over fifty years. In 2025, she received the Cultural and Literary Excellence Award at the 3rd Indonesia Literature Festival. She has also won the Montale "Cuttlefish Bones" International Poetry Prize (28th and 31st editions) and the Solferino International Poetry Prize with Jury Award in Italy, among more than 50 international poetry awards. In 2020, she was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Her poems have been translated into over 40 languages, with more than 2,000 poems published in over 800 newspapers and magazines across 70 countries. She has published 11 poetry collections and edited anthologies featuring poets and artists from more than 100 countries for publication in China.
Her poem Waiting for the Bus was set to music by renowned composer Tu Bahai, former conductor of the Shanghai Light Music Orchestra, and performed at the Shanghai Majestic Theatre in March 2026, as part of the 41st Shanghai Spring International Music Festival.
She has been invited to major international poetry festivals in more than a dozen countries. In 2026, a solo poetry exhibition titled "Poetry and the Distance" was held in her honor at the former residence of Fu Lei in Zhoupu, Shanghai - the first solo poetry exhibition ever held for an individual poet in Shanghai and across China.
As a painter, she has also gained significant recognition. In 2025, she participated in five exhibitions in Paris, including the Paris International Fair. Her artwork has appeared on the covers of art magazines in 17 countries.
She is the founder and president of ACC Shanghai Huifeng International Literature, and founder and editor-in-chief of ACC International Magazine. Since 2018, she has served as China representative for the Spanish cultural foundation ITHACA, vice president of the Korean International Literary Association, and international advisor for the North American Poetry Association.
In 2023, she co-edited and co-translated Dragon Song: Contemporary Chinese Poetry Anthology with renowned Chilean poet and international editor Luis Cruz-Villalobos, published in Chile and released globally on Amazon.
She has organized four editions of World Poetry Day readings, a Dylan Thoma
