Reflection

Reflection

I was inspired to write my poem, “Twin Hills,” to bring attention to a major engineering project in my hometown of Shanghai designed to reintroduce nature into an urban environment. The Twin Hills Project consists of two giant hills built on the reclaimed land of a former steel production site in one of the main industrial sites of the city, Pudong. In the spirit of this competition, the project shows that it is possible to bring urban environments in harmony with nature; furthermore, it shows that if people in cities can enjoy natural landscapes, they may be more willing to protect them. I was inspired by the form of the famous rondeau poem “In Flanders Fields.” Although the content of my poem is very different, the cyclical nature of the form itself, I thought, mirrored the theme of the renewal of nature—an idea usually restricted to the changing of the seasons. During the writing process, I considered the symbolism of 山 (mountain) and 水 (water), which are traditional aspects of Chinese landscape painting and key elements of the The Twin Hills Project. The hardest parts of writing a rondeau are to find words that have rhyming potential and then create a refrain that can have deeper significance as it gets repeated in new contexts. Beyond learning more about writing poetry, more importantly, I expanded what I know about the delicate balance between nature and humanity, especially in urban landscapes. When I feel the need to reconnect with nature, I know I can disappear into the lush hills of Twin Hills for a hike or just to hear the birds sing. I hope people who read my poem will focus on how they can connect with nature and help to rejuvenate it, especially in cities.