A dictionary is only as good as the words it has in it, or the words it leaves out. If you can’t find words for basic human anatomy, let us say, then as a tool for translation it is rather weak. Armenian dictionaries, even on-line ones, suffer from prudish editors. The words […]
“China’s answer to Diana Krall”
I have never attempted to write a jazz review before, but as they say, there is a first time for everything. This also appears in an edited different form on Lala.com.
Perhaps I am the wrong person to critique any modern jazz collection; when it comes to heroes my tastes […]
cover of dongqin’s ye bai
he ye you chun tian (2006)
What a voice! Who in the world is Dongqin and where can I find some information about her?
Sometimes internet hunts can be frustrating. What I find often is that the people who are doing wild, new things with jazz or poetry thrive in corners of […]
“federico: another age” ZJC (2008)
I have been working on a version of Federico Garcia Lorca’s famous poem, Romance Sombambule, or, roughly translated, The Sleepwalker Ballad. Several friends have looked at it and said that it was a good attempt. I must give thanks to France Isabelle, Shirley, Mistletoe
and Elle! You all gave […]
“red bamboo [new year]” ZJC (2008)
It is a new year. Earlier today Dino from Shanghai, China, helped me translate the poem Red Bamboo into Chinese. Thank you, Dino, you are wonderful!
起先我买了一枝的红竹嫩芽，
嫩芽短小未到一英尺的长度，
取了一把手柄缺口鳗鱼状刃。
得花整整一天才好打磨雕刻，
我恐怕三枝是我的最大极限。
又找到一只古旧的粘土罐子，
那由南蛇藤和鲜血塑就而成，
我填满管子在下面点起火来。
在木片上刻下疑问扔进火中：谁在那里？
火焰不断嘶响，直到拼出了“阿曼克斯”。
那是否是你愉快的灵魂言语，我的爱人？
火焰继续燃烧，直到又闪现出“我等你”。
我最后切刻竹子作为祈祷：你何时会来？
你仓促忙碌的灵魂快作答，你何时会来？
I had written a poem for my friend Ekaterina, for the photo-poem project we are working on. Over the summer my friend, Calmfeeler, went on holiday in southern China and when she got back she sent me her translation of this poem, in Chinese! Amazing!
告诉我我的爱， 一定有人可以
如鸽子般从容。 我苍白乏力, 但
爱广袤的天空。 那些向上伸展的
公寓楼的触角， 他们将全世界的
信息统统收纳, 他们将已老旧的
上帝推下了床.。 一定吧, 我想,
穿过了这重门， 就是罗马
在冬日的天际， […]
image taken from the china-fun website.
I have not been able to find all of Qiu Jin’s floral poems yet what I have found, however, intrigues me. I am sure if I knew more about Chinese poetry and various themes and motifs that run through it I might understand a bit better the references she is […]
still from the movie based on the ballet Red Detachment of Women (1930)
In attempting to find information on Qiu Jin’s grave I found a cryptic message on a website concerned with Dragon Boat races, “Qiu Jin, also called rui qin jing xiong, Jianghu Swords-woman and yu gu, born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, was good at […]
actress Li Xiuming as Qiu Jin: Revolutionary
Our modern view of Qiu Jin is … curious, at best. Several Hong Kong produced movies have made it to the States (if you look hard enough); one was filmed in 1953 with the actress Li Lihua and again in 1983 staring Li Xiuming. There is a […]
image stolen from revolutionary women stencils
When the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China, crushed the Boxer Rebellion and then marched into Beijing on August 14, 1900, they: “undertook several punitive expeditions against the Boxers. Troops from most nations engaged in plunder, looting and rape. German troops in particular were criticized for their enthusiasm in carrying […]
Image taken from www.sx.gov.cn
To understand what motivated Ch’iu Chin (Qiu JIn) and her work we need to remember the time period in which she lived. China had just been internationally disgraced by the invasion of the Eight-Nation Alliance (Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) which sought to […]
image taken from a ballet based on Qiu Chin’s life
Mistletoe sent this link to me, thank you very much! It is collection of Qiu Jin’s poem in original Chinese. It was from that page I found this poem to translate:
秋瑾〈對酒〉
不惜千金買寶刀，貂裘換酒也堪豪。
一腔熱血勤珍重，灑去猶能化碧濤。
For a precious sword I would not resent spending a thousand gold coins;
let me […]
taken from Wikipedia (China) “Statue of Ch’iu Chin located
on West Lake, Hangzhou”
The poem I am working on today is an earlier one, written perhaps in Ch’iu Chin’s (Qui Jin) late teenage years or early twenties. It should be noted that while there are numerous biographies written about her most deal with Ch’iu Chin “the […]
reproduced from Ch’iu Chin chuan (1969)
Picking up where we left off with the poet Qiu Jin (Ch’iu Chin), we see that the two years she spent in Japan, 1904 to 1905, were productive ones. Chang and Saussy describe them this way:
In June 1904, having outgrown Beijing and her friends, Qiu left for Japan after […]
photo reproduced from Chiu Chin chuan (1969)
So the Supreme Court has rolled back reproductive rights for women once again and across the nation anti-abortionists chomp and jeer over the victory. What I am curious about isn’t that a group of ultra-conservative male judges would pass laws making women second class citizens by […]
My friend Mistletoe wrote recently suggesting a new poet I should read, Li Ch’ing-chao (the modernized version of her name is Li Qingzhao 李清照).
All sources I read credit her with being one of the best poets of China. She lived from 1084 to 1151, during a time of great war and chaos […]
In a culture dominated by male poets it is refreshing to discover other voices, even if one must look a little harder to find them. In ancient China, during the Tang dynasty (618 — 907 AD), women poets could be found working in several occupations but a large number were entertainers or courtesans. […]
You would think there were no ancient Chinese women poets of consequence by reading the popular translation in English poetry anthologies I can lay my hands on. I suspect this has to do with the translators more than anything else. For example, out of Innes Herdan’s 300 Tang Poems (Far East Book Company, […]
Today I see the importance of friends. It is good to have them and it is even better when a friend puts up with your pestering to have your poem translated into his or her language. So today’s Shout of Joy and Thanks goes out to my wonderful pen pal who goes by […]
Time being as short as it is, I have not had enough of it to meditate on this poem by Wang Wei to see what interested me to try my hand at it. However, the act of translation was meditation enough, I feel. The text I worked from was Gems of Classical Chinese […]
Hear and attend and listen; for this befell and behappened and became and was, O, my Best Beloved; I have been reading blogs of late. I find it interesting that many poets post short lists of what they are reading; however, the one thing we do not do very well as blog-poets and thinkers […]