Posts Tagged ‘Beijing 2008’

CV

12月 30, 2017


CV

Martin Winter
is not Jewish
and his children
are not fully grown
otherwise
he is arguably
the greatest poet
he can remember,
born
in 1966
CR
in China
but he was born in Vienna
and had a much more comfortable childhood
than his parents,
studied
then went to Taiwan
studied
did mischief in Shanghai,
met wife,
taught refugees,
met wife again in Xi’an and Wuhan,
went to Romania,
met Chinese friends there,
married wife,
they went to Chongqing,
then stayed in Beijing till 2008.
Two children born there.
Translated propaganda,
wrote, translated
more and more
poetry
among other stuff
until now
in Vienna,
2018
in a few days.
Cheers!

MW December 2017

P.S. Translations used by NY Times, NY Review of Books, South China Morning Post, Australia Vagabond Press, Taipei Times, Epiphany, Vermont Studio Center, Tucson poetry laureate Rebecca Seiferle. Translations into German appeared in Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) and many papers and magazines. Organized events with Chinese poets in Austria, together with Esther Dischereit, Agnes Schick, and others. Recipient of Li Bai prize for poetry translation. Published books in China and Austria, contributed poems, other texts and translations to books and magazines in German, English and Chinese in many places. Will give details if needed. Cheers again, may the force be with the resistance. Yes, seriously. Thank you!

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发表在 1960s, 1966, 1970s, 1980s, 1989, 1990s, 2000s, 2017, 20th century, 21st century, poetry, PR, Translations, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

BERLIN 1936 – 伊沙

4月 18, 2015

Yi Sha 《柏林1936》
BERLIN 1936

I imagine
I am standing at the chairman’s rostrum
where hitler stood
but from up there you see it more clearly
all those kinds of olympic events
all sorts of people doing their best
no way of telling overall quality
how could he have arrived at
superiority of the german race?
he was a politician
for a raving politician
what does sport count after all?
he is so selfless
he can forget on the whole square
he’s the most meager ghost of them all
a pathetic born clown

2008
Tr. MW, April 2015

 

Yi Sha
BERLIN 1936

ich stell mir vor
ich steh auf der plattform des vorsitzenden
dort wo hitler stand
aber von oben seh ich noch deutlicher
in allen sparten der olympiade
tut jeder sein bestes
alle arten von menschen
wie war es möglich wie kam er
zur überlegenheit der germanischen rasse?
er war ein politiker
was bedeutet der sport
für einen politiker mit minderwertigkeitskomplex?
er ist so selbstlos
vergisst dass er auf dem riesigen platz
der allerkleinste magerste teufel ist
der geborene clown

2008
Übers. v. MW, 2015

 

《柏林1936》

我瞎想
自己是站在主席台的正中央
希特勒的位置上
反而能够看得更加清楚
在奥运会所设的所有项目中
各个人种各显其能
绝无优劣高下之分
怎么能够得出
日尔曼是优等人种的结论
问题在于他是政客
在一个丧心病狂的政客眼中
体育又算得了什么
这个政客如此忘我
忘记了自己是全场
最为瘦小枯干的一个鬼
还天生一副小丑的模样

2008

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发表在 April 2015, poetry, Translations, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

OLYMPIA-PAPAGEI: 伊沙 Yi Sha

4月 17, 2015

Yi Sha 《奥运鹦鹉》
OLYMPIA-PAPAGEI

eines tages komm ich von draußen
geh durch den hof
von einem balkon
fragt mich ein bariton:
“bist du ein olympischer fackelträger?”

instinktiv
will ich antworten
aber da stimmt etwas nicht
das war nicht der herr dieser wohnung
– ein fanatischer sportfan
– es ist ein häßlicher papagei
papageien haben doch kinderstimmen?
wieso ist der ein bariton?
allen wesen will ich freund sein
deshalb sag ich ehrlich: “nein.”
aber der papagei ist kein freund,
gibt zurück: “nein – schwachkopf!”

die olympiade rückt jeden tag näher
das vieh wird immer lebendiger
sogar etwas hysterisch
heute morgen sieht er mich
und kommt mit fließendem englisch
(englisch ist immer die sprache der vögel)
ONE WORLD ONE DREAM
ich bin ein rachsüchtiger mensch
denk noch an den “schwachkopf”
also sag ich ihm: “FUCK!”

nachher schreit er die ganze zeit: “FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!”
die lieben frauen im hof die ihn schon adoptiert haben
springen wie von einem erdbeben

2008
Übers. v. MW im April 2015

 

《奥运鹦鹉》

那天我从外面回来
穿过小区大院
从一楼某户人家的
阳台前走过时
有个男中音冲我问话：
“你是奥运火炬手吗？”

出于本能
我刚想开口作答
但发现情况不对
跟我搭讪的不是这家主人
——那个狂热的体育迷
——而是一只丑鹦鹉
鹦鹉不都是童声吗
怎么变成男中音啦
与畜牲为善
我便如实作答：“不是。”
这只鹦鹉不厚道
回报以：“不是——笨蛋！”

奥运日益迫近
这厮愈加活跃
甚至有几分张狂
今天早晨看见我
竟操着一口流利的英语
（英语本来就是鸟语嘛）
One  World   One  Dream
我这人报复心重
想起上次这厮骂我“笨蛋”
便随口回了一句：Fuck！

然后它就一直在那儿骂：Fuck！Fuck！Fuck！
搞得院子里那些已经把它认作干儿子的闲妇
逃得像地震了一样快

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发表在 April 2015, poetry, Translations, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

維馬丁五首

8月 6, 2013
Yang Jinsong and Fans

Yang Jinsong and Fans

桜（櫻）

白與粉色漂浮

透著光載入一日

在狂人群眾

樹木兀自開花

生長、成熟、垂落

佇立，迎風呼吸

2011/4

英、德文/ 維馬丁

中譯/ 彤雅立、維馬丁

2012-2013

BLOSSOM

shine and float in white and pink

carried forth into the day

all among the loony people

certainly the trees are blooming

growing, falling, ripening

standing, breathing in the wind

MW April 2011

BLÜTE

weiss und rosa leuchtend schweben

fortgetragen in die tage

unter allen irren menschen

blühen zweifellos die bäume

wachsen, fallen, reifen, stehen

atmen, öffnen sich im wind

MW April 2011

那兒沒啥好說的

維馬丁

那兒沒啥好說的

他們全是建築工

拆掉又蓋上

那兒沒啥好說的

他們是孩子充滿歌

歐羅巴的軍樂
吶喊，旗幟飄揚

那兒沒啥好說的

他們是舞動的秋葉

他們是翱翔的飛鳥

那兒是今年的早熱
在城市的放射器裏

那兒沒啥好說的

他們是販售店鋪

歐羅巴的車

裝飾在黑窗子裏

踐踏小包心菜葉

他們被非法販售

那兒沒啥好說的

他們是古老的城河

每個人保持健康

他們試圖去過活

他們站立在街上

他們賣VCD碟

那兒沒啥好說的

那兒啥都能買

這兒是北京，終究

2004

林維甫 譯

2012


THERE IS NOTHING TO DESCRIBE

there is nothing to describe

they are all construction workers

tearing down and building up

there is nothing to describe

they are children full of songs

european marching tunes

shouting, waving up and down

there is nothing to describe

they are dancing autumn leaves

they are soaring flocks of birds

there is early heat this year

in the city’s radiators

there is nothing to describe

they are selling groceries

and the european car

all decked out in darken’d windows

tramples little cabbage leaves

they are sold illegally

there is nothing to describe

they are ancient city moats

everybody keeping fit

they are trying to get by

they are standing on the street

they are selling vcd

there is nothing to describe

there is everything to buy

this is beijing, after all

MW 2004

那兒沒啥

維馬丁

那兒沒啥好說的

我們是活老百姓

蓋上又拆掉

那兒沒啥好說的

那兒沒啥好交代的

我們是活老百姓

蓋上又拆掉

那兒沒啥好交代的

那兒沒啥好記住的

我們是活老百姓

蓋上又拆掉

那兒沒啥好記住的

那兒沒啥好盼望的

我們是活老百姓

蓋上又拆掉

那兒沒啥好盼望的

那兒沒啥好道歉的

我們是活老百姓

蓋上又拆掉

那兒沒啥好道歉的

那兒沒啥好遺忘的

我們是活老百姓

蓋上又拆掉

那兒沒啥好遺忘的

2007/8

林維甫 譯

2012

THERE IS NOTHING

there is nothing to describe

we are ordinary people

building up and tearing down

there is nothing to describe

there is nothing to explain

we are ordinary people

building up and tearing down

there is nothing to explain

there is nothing to remember

we are ordinary people

building up and tearing down

there is nothing to remember

there is nothing to expect

we are ordinary people

building up and tearing down

there is nothing to expect

there is nothing to regret

we are ordinary people

building up and tearing down

there is nothing to regret

there is nothing to forget

we are ordinary people

building up and tearing down

there is nothing to forget

MW August 2007

Picture by Sara Bernal

Picture by Sara Bernal

<主席>

維馬丁

主席，他不是鳥

主席，他不是飛機

到底主席是什麼？

主席為你作一張椅子

主席，他作所有的腳

主席，他作所有扶手

主席，他作每道靠背

主席，他作所有的椅子

別跟我說你不知道

主媳又是什麼？

主媳也會作這些

主媳作所有的腳

主媳作所有扶手

主媳作每道靠背

主媳作所有的椅子

別跟我說你不知道

2008/3

林維甫 譯

2012

CHAIRMAN

chairman, he is not a bird
chairman, he is not a plane

what is chairman all about?
chairman makes a chair for you
chairman, he makes all the legs
chairman, he makes all the arms
chairman, he makes every back
chairman, he makes all the chairs
don’t tell me you didn’t know

what is chairlady about?
chairlady will make them too
chairlady makes all the legs
chairlady makes all the arms
chairlady makes every back
chairlady makes all the chairs
don’t tell me you didn’t know

MW March 2008

<下次>

維馬丁

下次我是顆石頭

下次人生，你會是什麼？

當你死時，你會是什麼？

這問題並不算精確

那裏並沒有一個世界在下次

當我們累了，它就在這裏

而在早上，神會願意

下次我會是張紙

下次我是個孩子

下次人生，你會是什麼？

當你死時，你會是什麼？

這問題並不算精確

那裏並沒有一個世界在下次

它跟著我們，當我們到那裏

而在早上，神會願意

這次我的孩子在這裏

2007年8月

林維甫 譯

NEXT TIME AROUND

i am a rock next time around
what will you be in your next life?
what will you be when you are dead?
the question is not accurate
there is no world next time around
when we are tired, it is here
and in the morning, god be willing
i’m paper then next time around

next time around i am a child
what will you be in your next life?
what will you be when you are dead?
the question is not accurate
there is no world next time around
it is with us, when we are there
and in the morning, god be willing
my child is here this time around

MW         August 2007

 L1030974

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发表在 August 2013, Welcome! | 1 Comment »

前門、敦煌、大理

4月 3, 2008

 thumbnail please visit this page: 前門、敦煌、大理 M

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发表在 April 2008 | Leave a Comment »

second moon

3月 12, 2008

second moon

like a dirty old banana

lying up there on a plate

or a slim discoloured slit

i can see a star or two

but the air is better now

maybe we will have some rain

we’ve been getting only smog

though the days are nice and warm

it’s a dryness in the throat

i don’t think the rain will come

MW March 2008

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Qianmen, Dunhuang and Dali

3月 10, 2008
How are you doing? This is Leo at the local McDonald’s. They are bigger than the local KFC, and have a good playground inside. Actually, the weather has been warm enough to play outside for a long time now. Yesterday we went to the Meishuguan, the National Gallery. They’re having a very popular Dunhuang exhibition. I co-translated a book on Dunhuang last year, and I have been there in 2000. This time we went with a painter (Zhuang Zhuang’s mother), who had worked in Dunhuang with her father. The great thing about this exhibition is that they have gathered reconstructions and copies of the murals from the last 60 or 70 years. Many copies and cave reconstructions are very good. The really tried to transform the whole museum into a replica of the site, as far as possible. The caves in Dunhuang are only unlocked when a tourist group comes through, and then the cave is locked again after five minutes. So you have to stay the whole day and follow many different groups, like I did. But here in Beijing it is all spread out for everybody. Buddhism for the masses. It’s great.
McDonald’s
And here are Maia and Zhuang Zhuang at the Meishuguan entrance. This used to be a museum for Chinese stalinist oil paintings, mostly. They still have them somewhere. But in the last two years or so they have had some very interesting exhibitions. They had the Zhou brothers, who come from the 1970s, emigrated in the 1980s and made it big. They gave the whole building a big makeover. The canteen in the backyard is clean and good. There are a lot of military police stationed in the northwest backyard. I don’t know if they are only there to protect the art. Maybe it’s their local headquarter. The whole city is swarming with police guards, and even more with construction workers. They are having the yearly National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference meetings in the Great Hall of the People on Red Square. The construction workers are transforming the old streets immediately south of the Square into a great faux antique theme park. Qianmen Dajie, the south part of the north-south axis going through the city since Mongol times 800 years ago, is completely evacuated and blocked off, including all the side alleys for half a mile in each direction. You can see the theme park buildings rising behind the construction fences, which are decorated walls. Decorated with old city photos from 100 years ago, in part. Everybody moved out, and make it all new, for the foreigners.
Zhuang Zhuang and Maia
Southwest of Qianmen, closer to Hepingmen and the west part of Dazhalan, there are some Hutongs left. They are being renovated. Some old buildings are torn down, but they are being rebuilt with plumbing. You can see the swarms of Mingong (migrant workers) busy in all the Hutongs in the city that are still intact. Maybe they are doing a good job. So it seems that some parts of old Beijing will remain. Some of them are tourist streets already. Nan Luoguo Xiang is a creative quarter, to some extent. They have torn down some streets there too, east of Shichahai lake. Maybe there will be a canal side park. The remaining Hutongs southwest of Qianmen retain some features of the former Qianmen area, complete with cheap hotels. Maybe the mosque is still there, too. People are friendly, the real ones that remain. Friends of us got robbed in some Hutong cul-de-sac near the Square and the Forbidden City last year. Bicycle cab took them for a ride. Not surprising when huge areas in the city center are instant ruins and construction sites. The whole Qianmen walled-off theme park construction site reminded me of Dali, Yunnan province. In 2006, they had been building a six-lane freeway next to the west side of the old city for a few years already. There is a big new highway on the east side already, all the way around the lake. But this is the old Burma road, so they want to show off all the way to the border. And about half of the old city was still off-limits. Some are plants and factories, but some parts are just old streets being torn down and replaced with malls for foreigners. And Chinese tourists, of course. Why did we go all the way to the south of the city at all? The daughter of an office colleague of Jackie was baptized in the Catholic church at Xuanwumen.
Demon
This is Maia in the chapel for the baptism ceremonies. No, she’s not baptized yet. They do it later in the Lutheran churches. Jackie is Protestant, and we have frequented Lutheran services since our wedding. Christianity in China is a very interesting topic. The old church buildings, both in the cities and in remote places all the way into the Himalayas, are all worth visiting, even if you are not religious at all. More than half of Tian Zhuangzhuang’s film on the old tea road in Yunnan is about churches, temples and believers in remote mountain valleys.
Chapel
And here we are at the McDonald’s again. I don’t have a photo from Qianmen Dajie construction street, because I was carrying Leo asleep around the theme park wall when we passed the south gate of that construction site which is at least as big as the Forbidden City. Would have been a great picture, with a real camera. But there was a guard, who was just closing the gate. Leo will be three on Friday. He has grown, but he still doesn’t say more than five clearly discernible words in any language, although he understands a lot and tells you very forcefully when he needs something. He needs to run around a lot. Not fussy with food at all though, and very mild in his temper in general, compared with Maia, or his parents. But Maia can play rather quietly with a friend for hours now. She did that last Friday night in our yard downstairs, with Yang Yang, the daughter of a Chinese neighbour on staircase #2 in our building. Yang Yang goes to the same Kindergarten group as Zhuang Zhuang, Maia and Leo.
Mouth
Yang Yang’s father went with her to the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest, the two big new Olympic sites. They had asked for photos with the kids in front of the new sites at Kindergarten. Last week, at the last parent’s meeting, they appealed again for photos. Yang Yang’s father advised us against going. Most of the area is still a construction site, he said. Oh well. I have photos of slogans for the Olympics, in the Hutongs and on banners at highway construction sites. They probably don’t want those. They had asked for a small gift for Women’s Day also, for the kids to pass them around the women in the neighbourhood. I didn’t come up with anything, and Jackie was too busy. On the bus on the way back from Qianmen East street on Saturday there was a long speech for Women’s Day on TV. The guy holding the speech was very important at the National People’s Congress and The Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. I couldn’t see the screen. The conductor made people get up to give us two seats when we got on. Leo was still sleeping. Maia sat down on the space above a wheel. Then Jackie stood up for an old man and sat there on the wheel with Maia. It was a long trip. Beijing bus lines go on forever. And then there is the traffic. The 120 makes a detour around Guomao, probably in an effort to ease the congestion on Jianguomenwai.
Spring
Kids in developing countries often make a victory sign in photos. Maybe they learn it in Kindergarten. This was in Beili, on the way to the Kindergarten, just across the road from our place. By the way, if you are in Beijing, please come to Leo’s birthday party on Saturday. The houses in Beili are the same as in Nanli. We live at the top of staircase #5 in house 6. The compound is not too bad. Children can run around, and there are some trees. But even here in our compound we have some Olympic activism. The residents’ committee got rid of all private additions to the greenery on ground level. Our terrace is to high, thankfully. The mulberry tree is still standing, but they removed the trellises that held up the lower branches, and so they had to cut off the lower branches this weekend. Have a good spring!

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发表在 March 2008 | 2 Comments »

Serve The Olympics

3月 4, 2008

 Wei Aoyun fuwu

Serve The Olympics

Serve with mother

Fúwù àoyùn, guānzhù jiànkāng.
Fèngxiàn àixīn, gòujiàn héxié.

Serve in our Olympic venture, pay attention to your health.
Give and share affectionately, let us build up harmony.

Public messages in Beijing 2005-2007
MW        Translated 2006-2007

Build bridges

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发表在 2007 | Leave a Comment »