Zhang Dong
SHOCK & AWE
At the parents‘ party for the end of the year,
Zheng Ziyi’s mum
gave a kung fu performance,
people cheered and cheered.
Her class was very impressed, pupils and parents.
From then on
no-one in our school
dared to bully Zheng Ziyi any more.
Translated by MW, December 2020
Eryue Lan
LOTUS SCHAUEN
Der Bus kommt zum Lotusgarten.
Yi Sha sagt lachend zu Mo Gao,
unsere Dichterinnen
werden jetzt gleich
mit fliegenden Seidentüchern auftreten.
Er hat vielleicht vergessen,
es ist Sommer.
Wir pflücken höchstens zwei
Lotusblätter, halten sie uns über den Kopf
und machen ein Foto.
1. August 2020 in Mianyang
Übersetzt von MW im August 2020
Yu Shuai
A LIFE
At 16,
joins a rural drum band.
At 26,
swallows iron balls on stage,
one gets stuck.
No treatment, dies.
Translated by MW, April 2019
Yu Shuai
EIN LEBEN
Mit 16
in einer ländlichen Trommlerkapelle.
Mit 26,
schluckt Eisenkugeln,
eine steckt,
nicht behandelt, stirbt.
Übersetzt von MW, April 2019
Yi Sha 《无题（231）》
[UNTITLED] #231
I leave
my very best language
for my poems
for my lectures
when I’m back home
the records are sketchy
my words don’t make sense
I stutter and stammer
I’m hemming and hawing
so my wife doesn’t know
if I have what it takes.
I hope and I pray
everyone else
believes the opposite.
2016/3
Tr. MW, 4/4/16
《无题（231）》
我把我
最好的语言
留给了
我的诗
我的讲课
回到家中
语焉不详
词不达意
结结巴巴
吞吞吐吐
我的妻子
因此而怀疑
我的语言天赋
我希望且相信
除此之外的人
是反过来的
Yi Sha 《无题（230）》
OHNE TITEL Nr. 230
ein verwandter arbeitet
in einer großen staatlichen firma.
rennt herum auf der ganzen welt,
vertritt überall chinesische handys.
zum frühlingsfest kommt er zu uns,
schenkt mir kaffee aus äquatorial-guinea.
ich trink den kaffee die ganze zeit.
heut haben wir ihn wieder zu gast.
ich schenk ihm sein geschenk ein
und bin voll des lobes:
“der kaffee ist herrlich,
ich schmeck die sonne direkt am äquator.”
aber der herr diplomingenieur
weiß wirklich nicht was sich gehört
und korrigiert mich:
“onkel, verzeihung.
ich hab mich vertan.
der kaffee ist aus dem libanon.”
ich bin im dilemma.
der geschmack der sonne direkt am äquator
ist jetzt der geschmack von hizbollah-raketen?
ich hab schon den schaden
aber der sture diplomingenier
lässt mich noch nicht aus.
er nippt am kaffee
und schnalzt mit der zunge.
“onkel, du dichtest zuviel.
der kaffee schmeckt ein bisschen
wie frischer ingwer.”
März 2016
Übersetzt von MW am 5. April 2016
《无题（230）》
亲戚在一家大国企任职
他的工作就是满世界跑
推销我大中国的手机
过年到我家来时
送我赤道几内亚产的咖啡
我一直在喝
今天他又到我家坐客
我借花献佛
用他送的咖啡招待他
我说：＂这咖啡真好
我能喝出赤道骄阳的味道＂
这个理工男实在不解风情
执着纠正道：
＂姨父，对不起
我记错了
这咖啡是黎巴嫩产的＂
我尴尬不已
难道赤道骄阳的味道
得变成真主党火箭炮的味道
我知错了
但这个执拗的理工男
还不肯放过我
他呷了一口咖啡
咂吧咂吧嘴说：
＂姨父，你太诗人了
这咖啡就是多了一点
生姜的味道＂
Yi Sha 《无题（232）》
[UNTITLED] #232
each time I think of 1997,
when my mother died,
I also drag up a heap
of shards and splinters
of happiness.
a flower opened,
a poem was published.
a happy feeling
you only get
from having survived.
a process of healing,
a walking corpse
with small signs of waking.
2016/3
Tr. MW, 4/4/16
《无题（232）》
每毎想起1997
母亲离去之年
竟然想起一堆
碎玻璃似的
幸福的瞬间
一朵小花的开放
一首小诗的发表
都让我产生一种
幸存者才有的幸福感
哦，那是疗伤的过程
是一具行尸走肉
在一点点苏醒
Yi Sha 《无题（233）》
OHNE TITEL Nr. 233
maradonna 1983
gesund und gefährlich
im bernabéu-stadion
vorbei am verteidiger
am tormann vorbei
und ins leere tor
ein riesen-applaus
von erbittertsten feinden
mein idol
noch unvergiftet
ganz reines blut
im dem jahr ist erschienen
mein erstes gedicht
März 2016
Übersetzt von MW am 5. April 2016
《无题（233）》
1983年的马拉多纳
健美、精干
带球生风
在伯纳坞
过掉后卫
过掉守门员
推送空门
赢得死敌球迷的
一片掌声
我的偶像
尚未吸毒
血液纯净
在我发表处子作的
那一年
悼大衛鮑伊
惦記他
故他在
记得9/11以後
他在紐约唱保羅西蒙的歌
America
惦記盧·里德
兩三年前聽他的現場
惦記臺灣老朋友
廖瑞銘臺灣語教授
记得88年在臺灣買崔健的卡带
惦記傳聲頭像
AC-DC 酒吧
平克·弗洛伊德
寫在BUFFALO TOWN 天花板
惦記臺灣摇滚
以及所有抵抗强暴的聲音
2016.1.11
————————————
星期六七月26号去了鲍勃.迪伦现场 – Bob Dylan concert 在 Wiesen, 奥地利 Austria.
Rather good. Full raspy voice. Lots of ambivalence in the songs. Experimenting with old songs, making it new.
Songs from the albums TIME OUT OF MIND, WORLD GONE WRONG, BLOOD ON THE TRACKS and others. “Love Sick” was the last song. Very, very good. Before that, a new version of Blowin’ in the Wind.
Dylan was rather like Cui Jian 崔健 when he’s good – new songs every time, all of it – especially the classics.
Dylan mostly played piano. Good band. Each song a surprise. We saw Lou Reed two years ago. Also very good. Experimental, still.
That was the last chance I would get to experience Lou Reed live. He was himself, as far as I could tell. They also had what was left of The Doors – still with Ray Manzarek – and Ian Anderson and others. Doors trying to sound like on the records. Oh well. Ian Anderson coherent for one song only. Sad. Lou Reed strong. Like Dylan this time.
Qin Bazi
LESUNG
ein mensch allein
schau rechts hinauf im dreissig grad winkel
seufz ein tiefes “ah”
dort schwebt eine wolke
allein dreh den kopf
schau links hinunter fünfzehn grad
tiefgefühltes “ah”
dort ist publikum dunkel dunkel schwarz
ein mensch allein heb langsam den kopf
schau nach vorn
streck deine arme aus breit deine schwingen
ein tiefer atemzug
ein langgezogenes ausatmen:
ah ————————-
der kameraarm kommt heran
der lange hals einer giraffe
ein mensch allein mach ah ah ah
verbeug dich dreimal
ab
12. Juli 2015
Photo by Michael Gessner
Yi Sha
READING AT TUCSON POETRY FESTIVAL: OCT. 25th, 2014
1) 《车过黄河》 CROSSING THE YELLOW RIVER
2) 《9/11 心里报告》 9/11 REPORT FROM THE COUCH
3) 《中国底层》 CHINA DOWN AT THE BOTTOM
4) 《性爱教育》 SEX EDUCATION
5) 《在美国使馆遭拒签》 HAVING MY VISA REFUSED
6) 《二 泉映月》 THE MOON REFLECTED IN SECOND SPRING
7) 《烟民萨达姆》 SADDAM THE SMOKER
8) 《进入美国》 ENTERING AMERICA
9) 《佛蒙特创作中心》 VERMONT STUDIO CENTER
10) 《一年》 ONE YEAR
11) 《在美国再忆钟品》IN AMERICA, THINKING OF ZHONG PIN
12) 《隔壁的歌声》 SONG FROM NEXT DOOR
13) 《梦（442)》 DREAM #442 (it is winter/ I’m in an internet cafe/ …)
14) 《佛州吟》 SONG OF VERMONT
15) 《烦人的鲁奖》 GODDAMN LU-PRIZE
Presented by Tucson Poet Laureate Rebecca Seiferle!
Bentley’s House of Coffee and Tea, 6-8 pm
photo by Michael Gessner
4
Yi Sha
SEX EDUCATION
One of our travels
We didn’t get out very much –
Nine years ago. Led us to Qingdao –
A summer of love
Sand castles, writing on rocks
Fresh clams in small restaurants
Very cheap. I remember
We lived in a school
A hotel for the summer
It was our summer of
Watching movies together
One night we sat
In the video room
All the way until morning
There was a flick about all kinds of fish
We were attracted
And then we felt
Shaken without compare
There was a fish called salmon
They had this one time
Of uninhibited communion
At the end of their lives
Fish of great beauty
Nine years ago
We don’t remember
How great it was
But no-one forgets
The pain at the end
1997
Tr. MW, 2014/2
Photo by Howard Romero
伊沙
《性爱教育》
那是我们不多的
出门旅行中的一次
九年前 在青岛
那是属于爱情的夏天
海滩上的砂器和字迹
小饭店里的鲜贝
非常便宜 记得
我们住在一所
学校里 在夏季
它临时改成了旅店
那是我们共同的
爱看电影的夏天
一个晚上 我们
在录像厅里
坐到了天亮
一部介绍鱼类的片子
吸引了我们
使我们感到
震惊无比
那种鱼叫三文鱼
一种以一次
酣畅淋漓的交媾
为生命终结的
美艳之鱼
九年了
我们没有记住
它的美丽
只是难以忘记
这种残酷的结局
1997
Photo by Howard Romero
photo by Howard Romero
Liao Yiwu reading his poem “The Massacre”, Meng Huang 孟煌 reading his “Letter to Liu Xiaobo in Prison” and Maria Rosén singing the Swedish folksong “Ballad from Roknäs”, 19th March 2013, 9 pm, Sergels Torg, Stockholm, Sweden
Click here for texts and lyrics in Chinese, and to access the FREE LI BIFENG 釋放李必丰 page：
DVD and CD recordings of Liao Yiwu’s works, with texts in Chinese, English and German: Please click on the image below
Click here for recent texts and speeches by Liao Yiwu.
300 Modern Chinese Poems (Chinese-English) 汉英对照版《中国新诗300首》
Zhao Siyun 赵思运, who was introduced on the MCLC list by Michael Day a while ago with a poem called June 5th 六月五日, has a list of authors and poems on his Blog, for a Chinese-English anthology of over 300 modern Chinese poems 中国新诗300首. Compiled by an institution called International Poetry Translation and Research Centre, IPTRC. Very welcoming, diverse and expansive. Including writers from Taiwan, and many young voices. Liao Yiwu 廖亦武 is included, though not with his most representative work, probably. Lü Yuan 绿原 is there, he did a Chinese-German anthology, introducing Yu Jian 于坚 in 1990, rather early. Bei Dao 北岛 was included in there, but with a comparatively insignificant poem. He is better represented in this new effort, although I miss the mosquito. It’s very hard to include one or two significant poems from an author who is obviously politically significant.
Interesting to compare this with other anthologies, in Chinese and other languages. Zhongguo Xin Shi 中国新诗 (Fudan UP 2000), ed. Zhang Xinying 张新颖, has two poems by Zhou Zuoren 周作人, one against unnecessary water dams and a drinking song, both very impressive. Zhou Zuoren has not made it onto the IPTRC list. Of course it’s rather easy to come up with some of your favorites who are not represented, compared to shifting through many thousand poems and coming up with such a list. Huang Xiang 黄翔 is included, despite his dissident status, but he is already in Zhongguo Xin Shi 中国新诗. As usual, I am looking at newer people first, although I only recognize two from those born in 1970 or later. Zhou Yunpeng 周云蓬 is there, the blind folk singer. But not Cui Jian 崔健. Woeser 唯色 is there, which is great! But in general there are hardly any poets from minority nations in China.
Ha Jin 哈金 is missing, but he writes in English. Gao Xingjian 高行健 does not appear, but is mostly known for fiction and drama. So who else hasn’t made it? Yang Ze 楊澤、Hsiang Yang 向陽、Hung Hung 鴻鴻、Mai Mang 麦芒 (Huang Yibing 黄亦兵), who sometimes writes in English and teaches at Connecticut (there is another Mai Mang 麦芒 in China, known for one-liners).
On with the non-list: Sun Wenbo 孙文波、Li Nan 李南、Yang Jian 杨键、Zhu Wen 朱文、Yin Lichuan 尹丽川、Zheng Xiaoqiong 郑小琼、Ma Lan 马兰、Hong Ying 虹影、Pang Pei 庞培、Che Qianzi 车前子、Yan Jun 顏峻. I would have included Yan Jun’s 反对 Against All Organized Deception (translated by Maghiel van Crevel) and Ma Lan’s 事故和理由 The accident and the reason, maybe even combined with 仿佛 As If. And How We Kill a Glove 我们如何杀一只手套, if it wouldn’t be too long. Hong Ying’s 饥饿 Hunger, also written abroad. And one of Zheng Xiaoqiong’s 郑小琼 new female migrant worker’s portraits.
Then there would be others. Not compatible, maybe. Wu Yinning 吳音寧 and Li Ch’in’an 李勤岸 are very much from Taiwan. Wu Yinning 吳音寧 is more well-known for her reportages. The poems contain many fascinating local expressions, hard to translate. I’ve only read two poems by Li Ch’in’an 李勤岸, in a three-volume anthology of about 100 years of poetry in Taiwan. One of these two poems is a personal favorite, 解嚴以後 – 一九八七年七月十五日臺灣解嚴紀念 After Martial Law Was Lifted – In Commemoration of Lifting Martial Law in Taiwan on July 15th, 1987.
I have been reading a great anthology of Lithuanian poetry in the last few days. And there are beautiful anthologies of recent Chinese poetry in English, like the online treasure in the Spring/Summer 2006 issue of thedrunkenboat.com, edited by Inara Cedrins, or the Atlanta Review China issue. Without any Chinese characters, unfortunately. But these are important collections, with some great translations. The Drunken Boat collection is very diverse, including minority people in China, extra sections on Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore, as well as very much else from abroad. Even half of the non-minority nation poets in China who are in The Drunken Boat are not in the IPTRC 300. The Antlanta Review China collection, edited by George O’Connell, contains some of the best Chinese poetry I’ve read in translation anywhere in any language. And there is a good volume in English of Che Qianzi’s 车前子 poems and some of his friends, with a note in the back that the Chinese text can be found in some university library. Oh well. Many contemporary poets from China, including some world-famous ones, are not easily found in China. This has been going on for decades. Anyway, there is not enough modernity, not enough experiment in Chinese literature in general, especially in China. So it would be great to include some people like Che Qianzi 车前子 in any anthology. There is also not enough performance, that’s where Yan Jun 颜峻 and other sound and music stuff would come in.
The Lithuanian anthology mentioned above is from Poetry Salzburg Press. I love the long hallucinating love poem Bird in Freedom by Vytautas Bložė, written while imprisoned and “treated” in a Soviet psychiatric hospital. And the song-like evocations of Vilnius’ old city and the empty Jewish ghetto by Judita Vaičiūnaitė. The translations of these poems and many others by Laima Sruoginis are hauntingly beautiful. Much of the identity of the Baltic countries is built on songs, a great foundation for poetry.
