From the Diary of Madame Mao by Venezuelan poet María Teresa Ogliastri co-translated by Yvette Neisser and Patricia Bejarano Fisher

The bilingual Spanish-English poetry collection From the Diary of Madame Mao by Venezuelan poet María Teresa Ogliastri co-translated by Yvette Neisser and Patricia Bejarano Fisher masterfully captures the voice of Jiang Qing in her fictional diary. One of the collection’s most impressive aspects is the way Ogliatri uses the image driven narrative of eastern forms of poetic expression to convey a sense of the life of the woman who eventually became Madame Mao. The collection begins and ends with interior dialogue in the voice of Madame Mao/Jiang Qing imagined by Ogliastri.

Madame Mao/Jiang Qing was the fourth wife of Mao Zedong, the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and founder of the People's Republic of China (1893–1976). Jiang Qing, born Li Yunhe, also known as Li Jin, and briefly known by her stage name Lan Ping in 1930’s Shanghai, was a Chinese actress and political figure. Jiang Qing was one of few people whom Mao trusted. Furthermore, Madame Mao became the first deputy head of the Cultural Revolution and acquired far-reaching powers over China’s cultural life. She was imprisoned in 1976, soon after Mao’s death.

From the start Jiang Qing/Madame Mao aims for power. In “Lotus Feet” Jiang exclaims that she “will be empress of China / with subjects and servants at [her] feet,” despite the fact that her foot “…binding failed,” and her feet are “gnarled like an old tree.” This image gives the reader an image of deformed feet and speaks to Jiang Qing’s relentless pursuit of power.

Imagery is a powerful tool in poetry and uses descriptive language that engages the reader's senses. In these image-driven poems, some of the most prevalent symbolic images are birds. Ogliastri creates the poetic narrative with these images. Jiang Qing /Madame Mao sees swans while walking. Her voice begins with “wild swans,” symbolic of loyalty because they mate for life. Even though she may not be graceful like a swan, she will be loyal and have power. The desire for power is the most motivating factor in her life. She will become the most powerful woman of China.

Madame Mao proclaims in “Fallen Fairies” that in her garden “only blackbirds sing.” Blackbirds imply significant transformation. As Jiang Qing observes a change in her life the poetic voice changes. It continues with assertions about her mother who was “like a stringless marionette’ that had to “do all the housework” and tirelessly moved just like the “ducks always swam” in the pond. She remembers that resting by that pond was the only time Jiang “saw her smile” at her daughter. The ducks are symbols of the emotional resilience of her mother and herself.

Through “A Tigers Leap in the Brush,” Ogliastri imagines that in her desire for power Madame Mao will not be flashy like a peacock, but her “fate is tied / to the tiger’s leap in the brush.” Jiang Qing will be bold and assertive, after hiding herself “for thirty years / never forgetting the [wise] owl’s instructions.” However, like many individuals she manages to deflect responsibility for the killings during the Chinese Cultural Revolution because she is “just following orders.” Here Ogliastri compares her to a mantis. The mantis, or praying mantis, is known for its strategic stillness before it strikes. The powerful actor in the life of Mao Zedong, Jiang waited many years to finally become Madame Mao. The metaphor of the mantis is powerfully used in this poem.

In “Bonsai” nature’s indifference and Madame Mao’s thoughts about her fate are paired through personifying the tiny tree. Madame Mao “floats in dreams / over dragons of smoke.” Nevertheless, the tree holds “firm to a tray.” For Madame Mao the “time for oblivion” and the consequence for her crimes arrived after Mao Zedong’s death. She was arrested in 1976.

Madame Mao states in “My Third Husband” that when she married Tang Na, her third husband, she “wore a red dress.” Red is a prevalent symbolic color in Chinese society and represents life, vitality, and the perpetual hope for prosperity. In Jiang Qing’s eyes “Tang Na was weak.” Here, Ogliastri compares her to a “deer awaiting the hunter.” In contrast to the tiger’s leap at the beginning of the collection now she can no longer leap. The deer is the hunted, not the hunter. Madame Mao is incarcerated in “The Box,” and the landscape is one “where few birds sing.” In this poem the bird imagery used throughout the collection continues. The concluding poems “Obedience” and “Lark Please Look at Me” signify the end of her life, ending in Jiang Qing/ Madame Mao’s suicide.

In “Obedience” the “geese fly north / balance is found in unity.” A gaggle of geese symbolize loyalty. Now, she “gladly return[s] to the nest.” She’s ready to give up. In the concluding poem “Lark Please Look at Me” Madame Mao is in prison at “the throne of death.” The image driven narrative concludes with “the tenacity of the lark,” a bird known for its beautiful voice. However, she knows that “Newton’s laws produce birdsongs” and that nature in the end is indifferent to humans.

This collection of poems, beautifully translated from Spanish into English, captures the arc of Jiang Qing/Madame Mao’s life story as an imaginary poetic diary. Ogliastri is a poet who uses symbolism of nature and its personification with unparalleled skill and creates an engaging poetic life story.