Lui Waitong’s poem “Read and Burn” is a personal text that depicts generations of suffering against the foil of Chinese history. The author takes a retrospective look at her maternal grandfather who in 1975 “faced yet another catastrophe.” Her grandfather remembers his mother and father, but also his own youth and how his anger at this time ripened into a bitter honey. The poem initially consists of memories until we are moved forward in time to 2045—a time when the light and dark forces are still in conflict. It is like being transported back to 1965. To write is to wait for history to repeat itself.