MCLC: the existence of space (1)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: martin winter <dujuan99 at gmail.com>
Subject: the existence of space (1)
***********************************************************

A few more thoughts about the just completed Shenzhou 10 mission and Yi
Sha's poem Thank You, Father from 2003, also from my blog:

http://erguotou.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/existence-of-space/

Concentrating on private impressions and conversations in published poems
is self-evident for many, maybe for most people who read, write,
translate, edit such stuff. But China, and also Taiwan to a certain
extent, have put into question art, books, beauty, skills, traditions,
language- anything had to serve the Party, and what the Party couldn't use
could not exist. Capitalism does it too, everything that doesn't pay, that
we can't finance, cannot remain. They get along splendidly, finance and
centralized state, Mao and the Mammon. That's how the modern world was
developed.

腳下是隱形的塵土和古蟒的灰燼。/父親拿著鐵棒，問我：“你怕不怕？”/哦，我抬起頭來，
獵戶星座在中天閃耀，/空中傳來千秋的微響——/那無聲垂落的，是流星，還是一道道藍色的
鞭影？

"Beneath our feet, we couldn't see through dust and ash, rank growth of
old. Father holding his iron staff, asking me: 'Are you afraid?' Oh, I
raised my head, Orion sparkling right in the middle, space reverberations
sounding from eons-- falling silently, are those meteors, one blue
whiplash after the other?" 流星記事, Meteor Account, or Meteor Accounts, by
Zhu Fengming 祝凤鸣 (Oct. 1996). Nick Kaldis just showed me his translation
of Meteor Account, from a dozen Chinese poems in the magazine Dirty Goat
(#24 February 2011).The quote above is my own adaption, I couldn't resist.
Rank growth of old - 古蟒 or 古莽? Nick Kaldis thinks there might be a
misprint. ("古蟒 would refer to a snake known from fossil remains, the
Paleopython, while 古莽 refers to rank grass.").

 
Zhu Fengming is a geologist from Anhui, born 1964.

 《流星記事》
祝鳳鳴

有一次，丘崗夜色正濃，二月還未清醒，

我踏著回家的羊腸小徑，在山坡


白花花的梨樹下，碰見鄰村

淒涼的赤腳醫生，面孔平和。


“剛從李灣回來，那個孩子怕是不行了。”

他說，藥箱在右肩閃著棗紅的微光。


路邊的灌叢越來越黑，細沙嗖嗖——

我們站在風中，談起宅基，柳樹，輪轉的風水。


陰陽和天體在交割，無盡的秘密，使人聲變冷，

“……生死由命。”這時，藍光一閃

話語聲中，一群流星靜靜地布滿天空﹔


還有一次，我和父親走在冬月下

曠野的一切彷彿在錫箔中顫抖。


腳下是隱形的塵土和古蟒的灰燼。

父親拿著鐵棒，問我：“你怕不怕？”


哦，我抬起頭來，獵戶星座在中天閃耀，

空中傳來千秋的微響——


那無聲垂落的，是流星，還是一道道藍色的鞭影？
 

The existence of space. Of God(s). Yin-yang, fengshui. Existence of
wonder. Or the other way, wonder of existence. Outside the Party. Very
much among the common people on the other hand, in the countryside,
barefoot doctors, and so on, in the rest of Zhu Fengming's poem.

Yes, 蟒 (mang3) may be a misprint for the homophonous character 莽 (mang3).
古
莽之國, the ancient uncultured state. The Book of Liezi. "古莽之國，出《列子周
穆王第三》，屬迺古三
國。三國者何也？古莽之國、中央之國、阜落之國也。蓋處天地之外、神話之中，事未可
徵，史未可考。古莽之地，陰陽不交，寒暑不辨；民不衣不食而多眠，五旬一
覺，而以夢為真，真為妄也。" (From Wikipedia)

Space, spaceflight. A great achievement. "Sister killed her baby 'cause
she couldn't afford to feed it we are sending people to the moon." Prince,
Sign o' the Times. Really, I think they should have written more about
this in the international papers. Yes, it worked, no-one died, Wang Yaping
王亞平 teaching from space, tens of millions watching and listening to her.
A 
great leap, a giant leap, really. Responsibility, great responsibility.
How many things could go wrong, in space, for the nation. Planning
everything, the very opposite of wu wei. That's how the famine came. No
space for real wondering. Everything organized, all propaganda, all of the
nation. They are planning, they have begun to move hundreds of millions
more to the cities. Destroying small farms, villages, settlements,
temples. Like they destroyed the ancient cities.

They should write about spaceflight, every time. I have to get back to my
daughter. Show her the videos from Shenzhou 10.

Yi Sha's poem is from 2003, from the beginning of these missions 10 years
ago.

Martin