Archive for the ‘March 2011’ Category
三月 11, 2013

wee
little wee gets up to play
we are more than what we are
sometimes we may call it god
wee may call as soon as twelve
sometimes we may call it light
wee may call as soon as two
wee may always call at night
little wee wakes up to cry
we are less than what we are
wee may sleep as soon as noon
sometimes we may call it god
wee may call as late as eight
sometimes we can see the light
wee can call us any time
sometimes we can feel the night
sometimes wee can be alright
October 2007
Second Anniversary of the 2011 Japan Earthquake
hold it
(quakes, tsunamis, nuclear threats …)
the days of the blossoms
the yellow the white
the shoots and the air
and the birds and the bees
the flies and the beetles
the earth and the trembling
the cars that come floating
the buildings come tumbling
the life that sprouts
MW March 2011
innehalten
(fuer japan, yunnan, burma …)
die tage die blueten
die spitzen die gruenen
die weissen die gelben
die bienen die fliegen
die wogen die steigen
die wagen die treiben
die erde die bebt und
das leben das keimt
MW Maerz 2011

标签:anniversary, birthday, catastrophies, kids, poetry, spring
发表在 2005, 2006, 2007, March 2008, March 2009, March 2010, March 2011, March 2012, March 2013, Welcome! | Leave a Comment »
十月 3, 2012

Marokkanergasse, Vienna
the sun is streaming
against the mosaic.
the fountain’s broken,
turned off.
the people are busy, most of them.
it’s 9 am.
shopping, smoking.
high heels. maybe productive.
in jackets and scarves.
it’s chilly compared with a few days ago.
for a moment, the sun.
the warm morning sun.
MW August 2012
From August 28. 周二,8月28日。 The sun was on the door at eight or nine. In the afternoon it’s around the corner. The door to the street is over 100 years old, like the house. Military officer’s quarters, originally. Our apartment is downstairs, ground floor. Still expensive, inner city. The picture is from May. The pictures below are from Beijing. Click on them and get to a song of healthy food.


标签:beijing, building, life, military, Morocco, people, police, Vienna, walls, water
发表在 April 2011, April 2012, August 2012, March 2011, March 2012, May 2012, September 2012, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
三月 30, 2011
innehalten
(fuer japan, yunnan, burma …)
die tage die blueten
die spitzen die gruenen
die weissen die gelben
die bienen die fliegen
die wogen die steigen
die wagen die treiben
die erde die bebt und
das leben das keimt
MW Maerz 2011

http://tokyowriter.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/quakebook/、http://en.wordpress.com/tag/quakebook/、
hold it
(quakes, tsunamis, nuclear threats …)
the days of the blossoms
the yellow the white
the shoots and the air
and the birds and the bees
the flies and the beetles
the earth and the trembling
the cars that come floating
the buildings come tumbling
the life that sprouts
MW March 2011
标签:Burma, earthquake, Japan, life, quakebook, spring, tsunami, Yunnan
发表在 March 2011, Uncategorized, Welcome! | 2 Comments »
三月 23, 2011
The world-wide reading on March 20 was a big success. In Leipzig, as far as I heard. In Vienna, it was interesting. Instructive. Great experts. Reporters Without Borders. Amnesty International. Writers in Prison, with Helmuth Niederle from the Austrian PEN. Professors from the East Asia departments of Vienna and Bratislava. Poetry. Protesters in China, in prison. Women, peasants, workers. In spirit. In between. Over 90 cities in 33 countries on six continents. At least. Gerhard Ruiss and Bei Ling read in Leipzig. At the book fair.
Herta Müller’s speech on March 20 in Berlin was published in the FAZ on March 26. Very good speech. She has read the biography. Maybe a little too fast. The labour camp didn’t come immediately after the first prison term. He wrote the confession in prison at the end of 1990 and went free in January 1991. Everything else is correct. The episode with his father, who wanted him to give in. And the labour camp. She does take a side, very emphatically. The last sentence is the most important one. “More and more supporters of Charter 08 are disappearing in jail.” Liu Xianbin was sentenced to 10 years a few days ago. Altogether he has been sentenced for more than 25 years since 1989. His most serious crime seems to have been one of the founders of an opposition party at the end of the 1990s. Liu Xianbin’s wife Chen Mingxian chronicles her life in the last 20 years in this account: http://08charterbbs.blogspot.com/2010/10/blog-post_23.html
There is also a good piece in the NY Times by Geng He, wife of the human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/28/opinion/28geng.html
Teng Biao has disappeared, Ran Yunfei has been detained for a while, and now Liu Xianbin has been sentenced to 10 years, to name but a few. The situation is very clear. No progress, just the opposite.

MuseumsQuartier Wien, Raum D / quartier21 - Photo by Pernille Koldbech Fich
There will be a reading with Bei Ling, poet and publisher, in Vienna at the same location on April 12.
标签:Amnesty International, austria, Bei Ling, beijing, china, church, freedom of speech, Gerhard Ruiss, Helmuth Niederle, Japan, Liao Yiwu, Libya, literature, Liu Xiaobo, love, Nobel Peace prize, PEN, poetry, politics, prison, protests, raoul findeisen, Reporters Without Borders, reporting, Rubina Möhring, spring, Vienna, Vienna University, weigelin-schwiedrzik, writers
发表在 March 2011, Translations | Leave a Comment »
三月 12, 2011
标签:austria, beijing, china, chinese translation, life, literature, money, poetry, translation, Translations, Vienna, work
发表在 March 2011 | Leave a Comment »
三月 12, 2011

Vienna, March 20, 2011
标签:Charta 08, Charter 08, china, Chinese poetry, Jasmine Tee, literature, Liu Xiaobo, poetry, political prisoners, politics, prison, prisoners of conscience
发表在 March 2011 | Leave a Comment »
三月 2, 2011
One of the best texts I have read in a long time is Murong Xuecun‘s recent speech in front of the Foreign Correspondent’s Club in Hongkong. It was a speech he had wanted to give at the occasion of receiving the People’s Literature magazine’s “special action award”. But they didn’t let him speak at the ceremony. Time magazine has the full text, they say (acc.2011-03-02). Please read this text. If you like it, maybe you’ll agree that literature is a very good indicator of the state (of a nation), exactly because you can’t really know what it states. This is true for art in general, or a capacity for innovative culture. You can’t really know what it states, or maybe you’re sure you know, but you can’t really say, or what you can say is only one aspect. You can analyze the structure. You can try to translate it, and still keep the spirit. I haven’t read the original text, haven’t had time to look for it. Is there an original text in Chinese? Did he write it in English? He probably gave the speech in English, because it was at the foreign correspondent’s club. If the text in Time magazine is a translation, I’m pretty sure it is translated well. Yes, maybe there is something universal about it. Maybe Chinese writers have said similar things through the centuries. And millenia. But not only Chinese writers. And I am pretty sure, on the other hand, that this text is a very powerful indicator for the present state (of things). It’s both. Perfect example for Yomi Braester’s Witness Against History. Art has something else, something that goes far beyond History. Or also keeps record more faithfully.

标签:china, literature, politics, speech
发表在 March 2011, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
二月 28, 2011
In 2004/2005 or so in Beijing, my wife and I became friends with some parents of other kids at the local kindergarten. One mother had studied art in Japan and introduced me to blogging. Since early 2008 I have a website at Yahoo Japan. (I had spent a few weeks in Japan in early 1993, on a boat trip from Shanghai.) There is a blog I maintain at Langmates (translation and localization), another one for poems only (almost) and a harmonized teaser, among others. My translations of poems and various signs and banners in China can also be found on websites set up by Sam Brier (2004) and by Charles Laughlin (Ma Lan’s poetry). MCLC (Modern Chinese Literature and Culture), edited by Kirk Denton, has not only spawned an extensive treasure trove of Modern Chinese Literature and Culture sources, but also an Email-list server which has maintained professional and other exchange services for the international Chinese Studies community and beyond, including some very lively discussions. Recently, list members have introduced their blogs, such as Anne Henochowicz, Andrew Field, Jeanne Boden and Charles Laughlin. The initiative was started by Paul Manfredi.
标签:beijing, china, Chinese Studies, culture, life, literature, poetry, politics, Shanghai, travel, writing
发表在 March 2011, Uncategorized, Welcome! | Leave a Comment »