The Poetry of Stones
A digital book for people who feel something at museums and don't know why. Thirty classical Chinese poems — Tang and Song — each one the reason a real piece of jewelry exists: what the poem says, what the stone heard, and how the two were married in silver and fire.
Inside
30 poems, 30 pieces — every poem paired with a real design from the Wanchen bench: the crescent moon that answers Ouyang Xiu, the red agate that carries Wang Wei's longing, the white disc that "needs no explanation."
Original Chinese + careful English — faithful translations with the cultural annotations you actually want: what the moon means, why the gourd, who may wear a hair stick.
The maker's notes — stone choices, silver-wire termini, enamel firing logs. The twenty hours, shown.
A symbols index — moon, lotus, gourd, red bean, plum, and eighteen more motifs decoded, so any piece of Chinese jewelry you ever meet starts talking to you.
Free updates for life — new poem-pairs added every season, download again any time.
Not ready? Read one free.
Get Ten Poems, Ten Charms — the free mini-book — and one short letter a month.