you could beat none of us. Whenever
we fought with you we would shout:
“Your father was a landlord.
You are a bastard of a blackhearted landlord.”
Or we would mimic your father's voice
when he was publicly denounced:
“My name is Li Wanbao. I was a landlord;
before liberation I exploited my hired hands
and the poor peasants. I am guilty
and my guilt deserves ten thousand deaths.”
Then you would withdraw your hard fists
and flee home cursing and weeping like a wild cat.
You fought only with your hands,
but we fought with both our hands and our words.
We fought and fought and fought
until we overgrew you and overgrew ourselves,
until you and we were sent to the same village
working together in the fields
sharing tobacco and sorghum spirits at night
and cursing the brigade leader behind his back
when he said: “You, petty bourgeoisie,
must take your ‘reeducation' seriously!”
Until none of us had words.
They Come
Sometimes when you're walking in the street,
returning home or leaving to see a friend,
they come. They emerge from behind pillars and trees,
approaching you like a pack of hounds besieging a deer.
You know there's no use to hide or flee,
so you stop and light a cigarette, waiting for them.
Sometimes when you're eating in a restaurant,
your soup served and your dish not ready yet,
they come. A steady hand falls upon your shoulder.
You are familiar with such a hand
and don't need to turn around to meet the face.
The scared diners are sneaking out,
the waitress's chin is trembling when she speaks,
but you sit there, waiting patiently for the bill.
After settling it, you'll walk out with them.
Sometimes when you open your office,
planning to finish an article in three hours,
or read a review, but first make some tea,
they come. They spring out from behind the door,
like ghosts welcoming a child to their lair.
You don't want to enter, seeing cups and paper on the floor.
You're figuring how to send a message home.
Sometimes when you have worked day and night,
dog tired, desiring to have a good sleep
after taking a shower and an extra nightcap,
they come. They change the color of your dream:
you moan for the wounds on your body,
you weep for the fates of others,
only now dare you fight back with your hands.
But a “bang” or an “ouch”
brings you back to silence and sleeplessness again.
See, they come.
PERMISSIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A version of the preface previously appeared as “The Poem Behind the Poem: Literary Translation as American Poetry” in Manoa 11:2. (1999): 66–75, and in Frank Stewart, ed., The Poem Behind the Poem: Translating Asian Poetry (Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, 2004). A number of the translations by Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping have previously appeared in the following journals: The International Quarterly, Nimrod, The Mid-American Review, Chelsea, Blue Unicorn, The Paterson Literary Review, The Kennesaw Review, The Drunken Boat, The Literary Review, The Centennial Review, Paintbrush: A Journal of Poetry and Translation, Sham-bhala Sun, The Hungry Mind Review, The Threepenny Review, City Lights Review, Quarry West, Occident, Artful Dodge, The Red Rock Review, The Cumberland Poetry Review, Agni, The Tampa Review, and The Formalist. The editors gratefully acknowledge these journals and thank them for permission to reprint the poems.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:
Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping: “The Placid Style,” “The Potent Style,” “The Natural Style,” “The Implicit Style,” “The Carefree and Wild Style,” “The Big-Hearted and Expansive Style,” and “The Flowing Style” by Sikong Tu and excerpt from “The Art of Writing” by Lu Ji, from Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping, The Art of Writing: Teachings of the Chinese Masters (Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1996). Reprinted by permission of Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping.
Tony Barnstone and Willis Barnstone: “White Moonrise” from the Book of Songs, “To Be a Woman” by Fu Xuan, and “To the Tune of ‘Thinking About Nature'” by Ma Zhiyuan, translated by Tony Barnstone and Willis Barnstone. Reprinted by permission of Tony Barnstone and Willis Barn-stone.
Tony Barnstone, Willis Barnstone, and Chou Ping: “A Song of Zhanggan Village,” “Grievance at the Jade Stairs,” “Seeing a Friend Off at Jingmen Ferry,” “Watching the Waterfall at Lu Mountain,” “Hearing a Flute on a Spring Night in Luoyang,” “River Song,” “I Listen to Jun, a Monk from Shu, Play His Lute,” “Seeing a Friend Off,” “Drinking Alone by Moonlight,” “Seeing Meng Haoran Off to Guangling at the Yellow Crane Tower,” “Saying Good-bye to Song Zhiti,” “Song,” “Questioning in the Mountains,” “Missing the East Mountains,” “Having a Good Time by Myself,” “Drinking Wine with the Hermit in the Mountains,” “Sent Far Off,” “Inscription for Summit Temple,” “Summer Day in the Mountains,” “Brooding in the Still Night,” “Singing by Green Water in Autumn,” “Drunk All Day,” “Song on Bringing in the Wine,” “On My Way Down Zhongnan Mountain I Passed by Hermit Fusi's Place and He Treated Me to Wine While I Spent the Night There,” and “Song of the North Wind” by Li Bai, translated by Tony Barnstone, Willis Barnstone, and Chou Ping. Reprinted by permission of Tony Barnstone, Willis Barnstone, and Chou Ping.
Willis Barnstone: “To the Tune of “Lone Wild Goose,'” “To the Tune of ‘The Fisherman's Song,'” “To the Tune of ‘Butterflies Adore Blossoms,'” and “To the Tune of ‘Immortal by the River'” by Li Qingzhao, translated by Willis Barnstone and Sun Chu-chin; “Changsha,” “Tower of the Yellow Crane,” “Warlords,” “Kunlun Mountain,” “Loushan Pass,” “Snow,” excerpt from “Saying Good-bye to the God of Disease,” and “To Guo Moruo” by Mao Zedong, translated by Willis Barnstone and Ko Ching-Po. Reprinted by permission of Willis Barnstone.
BOA Editions, Ltd.: “In Memory of He Zhizhang” and “Zazen on Jingting Mountain” by Li Bai, translated by Sam Hamill, from Crossing the Yellow River: Three Hundred Poems from the Chinese, copyright © 2000 by Sam Hamill. Reprinted by permission of BOA Editions, Ltd.
John Cayley: “Bell Sound” by Duo Duo, translated by John Cayley, from Looking Out from Death: From the Cultural Revolution to Tiananmen Square (Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd., 1989), copyright © 1989 by John Cayley. Reprinted by permission of John Cayley.
Columbia University Press: Excerpt from Encountering Sorrow by Qu Yuan, from The Columbia Book of Chinese Poetry, edited by Burton Watson, copyright © 1984 by Columbia University Press. Reprinted by permission of Columbia University Press.
Copper Canyon Press: “Flying Light” by Li He and “Miracle,” “Perhaps,” and “Dead Water” by Wen Yiduo, translated by Arthur Sze, from The Silk Dragon: Translations from the Chinese, copyright © 2001 by Arthur Sze. Reprinted by permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368–0271.
Sam Hamill: “Confessional” by Li Po, translated by Sam Hamill. First published in Banished Immortal: Poems of Li Tai-Po (White Pine Press, 1987). Reprinted by permission of Sam Hamill.
Ha Jin: “Our Words” and “They Come” by Ha Jin, from Between Silences (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), copyright © 1990 by Ha Jin. Reprinted by permission of Ha Jin
Gregory B. Lee: “Written on a Prison Wall” by Dai Wangshu, translated by Gregory B. Lee, from Dai Wangshu: The Life and Poetry of a Chinese Modernist, Chinese Univers
ity Press, 1989. Reprinted by permission of Gregory B. Lee.
Mabel Lee: “To A Nine-Year-Old Girl Killed in the Massacre” by Yang Lian, translated by Mabel Lee. First published in Yang Lian's The Dead in Exile (Canberra: Tiananmen Publications, 1990). Reprinted by permission of Mabel Lee.
W. S. Merwin: Excerpt from “People's Abuse” by Muso Soseki, translated by W. S. Merwin and Söiku Shigematsu, copyright © 1989 by W. S. Merwin. Reprinted by permission of W. S. Merwin.
New Directions Publishing Corp: “Asking the Sky” by Bei Dao, translated by David Hinton, from At the Sky's Edge: Poems 1991–1996, copyright © 2000 by Zhao Zhenkai (Bei Dao); “Delivering Newspapers” and “Unti-tled” by Bei Dao, translated by Eliot Weinberger and Iona Man-Cheong, from Unlock, copyright © 2000 by Zhao Zhenkai (Bei Dao); “Requiem,” “The Morning's Story,” “Coming Home at Night,” and “Rebel” by Bei Dao, translated by Bonnie S. McDougall and Chen Maiping, from Old Snow, copyright © 1991 by Bei Dao; “War South of the Great Wall” by Li Bai (Li Po), translated by David Hinton, from The Selected Poems of Li Po, copyright © 1996 by David Hinton; “On the Death of a Newborn Child” and “Sorrow,” by Mei Yaochen, translated by Kenneth Rexroth, from One Hundred Poems from the Chinese, copyright © 1971 by Kenneth Rexroth; “Jade Flower Palace” by Du Fu, translated by Kenneth Rexroth, from One Hundred Poems from the Chinese, copyright © 1971 by Kenneth Rexroth; “Brimming Water” by Du Fu, translated by Kenneth Rexroth, from One Hundred Poems from the Chinese, copyright © 1971 by Kenneth Rexroth. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
North Point Press: “On Nondependence of the Mind” from Moon in the Dewdrop by Dogen, translated by Kazuaki Tanahashi. Translation copyright © 1985 by the San Francisco Zen Center. Reprinted by permission of North Point Press, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.
Penguin Books Ltd.: “A Piece for Magic Strings” and “An Arrowhead from the Ancient Battlefield of Chang-ping” by Li He, translated by A. C. Graham, from Poems of the Late Tang, translated and with an introduction by A. C. Graham (Penguin Classics, 1965), copyright © 1965 by A. C. Graham. Reprinted by permission of Penguin Books Ltd.
John Rosenwald: “Mirror” and “A Night at the Hotel” by Shu Ting, translated by John Rosenwald and the Beloit/Fudan Translation Workshop, copyright © 1992 by John Rosenwald. Reprinted by permission of John Rosenwald.
Routledge: “The Confession” and “The Heart Beats” by Wen Yiduo, translated by Ho Yung, from Contemporary Chinese Poetry, edited by Robert Payne (London: Routledge, 1947). Reprinted by permission of Routledge.
J. P. Seaton: “The Lamp-wick's Ashes, Blossoms Droop, the Moon Like Frost” by Ouyang Xiu (Ou-Yang Hsiu), translated by J. P. Seaton, from Love and Time: The Poems of Ou-Yang Hsiu, copyright © 1989 by J. P. Seaton. Reprinted by permission of J. P. Seaton.
University Press of New England: “Watching the Hunt,” “Walking into the Liang Countryside,” “A Young Lady's Spring Thoughts,” “For Someone Far Away,” “Climbing the City Tower North of the River,” “Deep South Mountain,” “Living in the Mountain on an Autumn Night,” “Drifting on the Lake,” “Cooling Off,” “Return to Wang River,” “Written on a Rainy Autumn Night after Pei Di's Visit,” “To Pei Di, While We Are Living Lazily at Wang River,” “Birds Sing in the Ravine,” “Sketching Things,” “Deer Park,” “House Hidden in the Bamboo Grove,” “Luan Family Rapids,” “White Pebble Shoal,” “Lakeside Pavilion,” “Magnolia Basin,” “Things in a Spring Garden,” “Answering the Poem Su Left in My Blue Field Mountain Country House, on Visiting and Finding Me Not Home,” “About Old Age, in Answer to a Poem by Subprefect Zhang,” “To My Cousin Qiu, Military Supply Official,” “On Being Demoted and Sent Away to Qizhou,” “For Zhang, Exiled in Jingzhou, Once Adviser to the Emperor,” “Seeing Off Prefect Ji Mu As He Leaves Office and Goes East of the River,” “Winter Night, Writing About My Emotion,” “Seeing Zu Off at Qizhou,” “A White Turtle Under a Waterfall,” “Song of Peach Tree Spring,” “Sitting Alone on an Autumn Night,” “Green Creek,” “Visiting the Mountain Courtyard of the Distinguished Monk Tanxing at Enlightenment Monastery,” “Questioning a Dream,” “Weeping for Ying Yao,” “Suffering from Heat” by Wang Wei, from Laughing Lost in the Mountains: Poems of Wang Wei, translations by Tony Barnstone, Willis Barnstone, and Xu Haixin, copyright © 1991 by University Press of New England. Reprinted by permission of University Press of New England.
The Estate of Arthur Waley: “Madly Singing in the Mountains,” “After Getting Drunk, Becoming Sober in the Night,” “Resignation,” “On His Baldness,” “Old Age,” “Since I Lay Ill,” and “A Dream of Mountaineering” by Bai Juyi, translated by Arthur Waley, from Chinese Poems (London: Allen & Unwin, 1946), copyright © 1946 by Arthur Waley. Reprinted with the permission of the estate of Arthur Waley c/o The Permissions Company.
Wesleyan University Press: “An Ancient Children's Tale” and “An Elegy for Poetry” by Yang Lian, translated by Tony Barnstone and Newton Liu; “Two or Three Incidents Recollected” by Shu Ting, translated by Chou Ping; “Perhaps” by Shu Ting, translated by Tony Barnstone and Newton Liu; “Missing You” and “Dream of an Island” by Shu Ting, translated by Chou Ping, from Out of the Howling Storm: The New Chinese Poetry, edited by Tony Barnstone, copyright © 1993 by Wesleyan University Press. Reprinted by permission of Wesleyan University Press.
Yale University Press: “The End” by Wen Yiduo; “Sitting In Quietude” by Lin Huiyin; “Gambling Men” by Ai Qing; “Entering The Dream,” “Fragment,” “Loneliness,” “Train Station,” and “Migratory Birds” by Bian Zhilin; “Autumn” and “Shrine to the Earth God” by He Qifang; “Song of Everlasting Regret” by Luo Fu, from Anthology of Modern Chinese Poetry, edited and translated by Michelle Yeh (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1992.), copyright © 1992 by Yale University. Reprinted by permission of Yale University Press.
Zephyr Press: “Five Years” by Duo Duo, translated by Gregory B. Lee, from The Boy Who Catches Wasps: Selected Poems of Duo Duo, copyright © 2002 by Duo Duo, translation copyright © 2002 by Gregory B. Lee. Reprinted by permission of Zephyr Press.
Zhao Zhenkai (Bei Dao): “Night: Theme and Variations,” “Ordinary Days,” “Country Night,” “A Decade,” “Response,” “A Step,” and “Elegy” by Bei Dao, translated by Tony Barnstone and Newton Liu; “Nightmare,” “Many Years,” “Sweet Tangerines,” “A Formal Declaration,” and “Ancient Monastery” by Bei Dao, translated by James A. Wilson. Reprinted by permission of Zhao Zhenkai (Bei Dao).
AN ANCHOR BOOKS ORIGINAL, FEBRUARY 2005
Copyright © 2005 by Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions. Published in the United States by Anchor Books, a division
of Random House, Inc., New York.
Anchor Books and colophon are registered trademarks
of Random House, Inc.
Permissions acknowledgments can be found at the end of the book.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Anchor book of Chinese poetry/
edited by Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping.
p. cm.
Includes index.
eISBN: 978-0-307-48147-4
1. Chinese poetry—Translations into English.
I. Barnstone, Tony. II. Chou, Ping, 1957-
PL2658.E3A496 2004
895.11008—dc22 2004051824
www.anchorbooks.com
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