Zhai Yongming: Poetry for the Vast Minority

Found in Translation: Sichuan Poetry Notes

By Catherine Platt

Zhai Yongming (翟永明) is one of Chengdu's best-known contemporary poets. Born in 1955, she first drew attention with the poem sequence Woman in 1984 and later published several collections including 翟永明诗集 (Selected Poems of Zhai Yongming) in 1994, 称之为一切 (Call It Everything) in 1996, and 黑夜里的素歌 (Plain Songs at Night) in 1997, which was recently republished as 十四首素歌 (14 Plain Songs). In 1998 she opened White Nights, first in Yulin and later in Kuanzhai Xiangzi, a bar, cafe and event space with a laid-back, artistic vibe.

Describing poetry as a form of enquiry, an "everlasting yearning for unknowable worlds and unattainable objects," Zhai Yongming sees herself writing for "the vast minority," the limited audience who are interested in poetry but with whom the potential for communication is unlimited. In an essay written in 1994 she explains how she uses poetry to mine the inexhaustible implications of her thoughts and the objects around her.

"I believe that certain plain things are more worthy of interest than their exteriors would suggest: We neglect their deeper levels. I hope that with the spade of my poetry I can dig past the surface dust covering images and vocabulary, and keep on digging until I reach the core of things."

This poem is the first piece in 14 Plain Songs. You can find more translations of Zhai Yongming's poetry by Simon Patten and articles about her work on poetry international.

失眼之歌

在一个失眼的夜晚
在许多个失眼的夜晚
我听见失眼的母亲
在隔墙灶旁忙碌
在天亮前浆洗衣物

盲目地在黑暗中回忆过去

它庞大的体积 它不可体摸的
意义：它凝视将来

那是我们的秘密
不成文的律条
在失眼时 黑夜的心跳
成为我们之间的歌唱：
它凝视将来

盲目的回忆过去
整整一夜我都在猜想
母亲当年的美貌:
她洁白的双颊
纤细的长眼形
从泛黄的相簿里浮起
还有时代的热血
鹰一样锐利的表情
就这样 她戎装成婚
身边 站着瘦削的父亲

在失眼之夜 母亲灶前灶后
布置一家的生活场景
她是否回忆起那北方的纺锤
她童年的玩伴？
永远不变的事物是它旋转
就像群星的旋转

它总要围绕一个生命的

多年来我不断失眼
我的失眼总围绕一个轴点
我凝视母亲

Song of Insomnia

On a sleepless night
On many sleepless nights
I heard my sleepless mother
Busy by the kitchen wall
Before dawn washing and starching clothes

Blindly in the darkness recalling the past
How vast it is, how untouchable
Meaning: it gazes at the future

That is our secret
An unwritten law
When sleep is lost, the dark night's heartbeat
Becomes the song between us
Gazing at the future

The blind recollection of the past
All night I pondered
My mother's face then:
Her lily-white cheeks
Fine slanted eyes
Floating up from the yellowing album
The warm blood of time
Her eagle-eyed expression
Just as it is, married in army uniform
My gaunt father by her side

Sleepless nights, my mother by the stove
Arranging family life
Did she recall the northern spindle —
Her childhood friends?
Unchanging objects revolve
As the stars revolve
Always wanting to orbit a living being

Years on I am still sleepless
My insomnia orbits an axis:
I gaze at my mother

Vocabulary

失眼 shīmián unable to sleep
隔墙灶 géqiáng zào kitchen wall
忙碌 mánglù busy
浆洗 jiāngxǐ wash and starch
庞的 pángdà huge
体积 tǐjī volume
凝视 níngshì gaze
不成文 bùchéngwén unwritten
律条 lǜtiáo law
心跳 xīntiào heartbeat
猜想 cāixiǎng guess, suppose, suspect
颊 jiá cheek
纤细 xiānxì fine
鹰 yīng eagle
锐利 ruìlì sharp
戎装 róngzhuāng army uniform
瘦削 shòuxuē gaunt
纺锤 fǎngchuí spindle
旋转 xuánzhuǎn revolve
围绕 wéirào revolve around, center on
轴点 zhóu diǎn axis point

This article was first published in CHENGDOO citylife Magazine, issue 51 ("and the winner is")