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Ha Jin is the author of numerous novels, including Waiting, winner of both a National Book Award and a PEN/Faulkner; War Trash, recipient of a second PEN/Faulkner; and A Song Everlasting (Pantheon, 2021). He is also the author of four story collections, including Under the Flag, which was awarded a Flannery O’Connor prize. His several poetry collections include Facing Shadows and Distant Center. Ha Jin left his native China in 1985 to attend Brandeis University and is director of BU’s creative writing program. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2014.

Photograph by Dorothy Greco.

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A Center

An iPoem

by Ha Jin
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You must hold your quiet center,
where you do what only you can do.
If others call you a maniac or a fool,
just let them wag their tongues.
If some praise your perseverance,
don’t feel too happy about it—
only solitude is your lasting friend.

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