Midnigth's Gate.(Brief Article)(Book Review)

MIDNIGHT'S GATE BEI DAO, TRANS. FROM THE CHINESE BY MATTHEW FRYSLIE, EDITED BY CHRISTOPHER MATTISON. New Directions, $19.95 paper (272p) ISBN 0-8112-1584-9

The writings in this volume by the internationally known Chinese dissident poet are called "essays," but read more like amalgamations after the fact of diary entries sorted by subject. They cover his many travels, from his native China--where he toiled as a concrete worker and iron mixer--to the California home he later inhabited and farflung poetry conferences he has attended over the years. The pieces seem like the haphazardly arranged memories of a rootless man. And while most seem to have sprung somewhere in …