In the spring and summer of 2005, Aku Wuwu, a Yi poet, went to the United States to give lectures and exchange poems. Different from ordinary superficial travel, this is a relatively extensive and in-depth cross-cultural exchange between Chinese and American minorities. The poet left with questions and thoughts. During his stay in the United States, the poet visited Indian reservations, visited Indian civilization sites, participated in related cultural activities, and had a direct dialogue with people from all walks of life in India, which enabled the poet to have a deeper understanding of contemporary American society and the living conditions of Indians under the multicultural background. During his visit, the poet not only exported Yi poetry and Yi culture to the western world, but also made cultural input and cultural comparison. The poet examines and thinks about the decline of American Indian civilization in a weak and marginal position from the perspective of literary anthropology, and at the same time looks back at his mother tongue and the national civilization that is disappearing in the process of modernization. Through this cultural exchange, Jinsha River civilization and Mississippi River civilization, Yi people and Indians realized a historic dialogue for the first time.
"Meeting you is a poetic fate/leaving you is also a poetic fate." The poet brought poetry to America, but he still got it. The collection of poems "A Talk on the Mississippi River" is an important achievement of this visit. There are fantastic images, beautiful legends, profound truths and surging warmth. These works are quite different from the poet's previous poetry creation in content and style. They are no longer the deliberate deconstruction and subversion of Chinese, the mainstream language, as the "angry youth" of ethnic minorities, but the poetic language is more colloquial, and everything is calm, such as flowing water, which is often talked about. Standing at a new height, the poet has a broader vision, a new understanding of the world, history and human nature, and his spiritual realm has soared again after "walking out of the wizard world".