for a short time, order the ebook (poetry) The House of Violence for 1.49
Poem after poem, the Chinese poet Haizi, who ended his life on a train track at 25, nurtures a romance, fated to end in a marriage, with death. He addresses the dead: Dante and Beatrice, Yesenin, Van Gogh, Wittgenstein. In his earthly life, the poet bears the “crown” of poetry: nothing less than a crown of thorns. Earthly life, for him, is a bitter journey to that final, much-anticipated wedding celebration:
At last before my eyes,
From the floating planks of my tomb,
A bridge or marriage boat will be formed.
Meanwhile, in the night, toward the moon and death, roses grow feverishly. Flashing her constantly mutating face, death is a pure a vision of nature, fertile and ecstatic, a grassland or Sichuan, a provisioner of exquisite flowers or of girls.
In the following poem, the poet requests a kiss from Sappho, the dead poetess.
For Sappho
Hot with love,
Exquisite as flower nurseries,
Girl poets lounge in a bower;
A mouth is employed
In plucking another’s lips.
****
I hear the echo of youth’s transformations: Sappho.
****
You with the name like a green,
Flock-strayed goose beneath a key:
Cover my glass.
****
Svelte Tuscan girl,
Sylph of herbs and dawns,
Female cupbearer；
****
You with the wildflower name
Like hot, overflowing water
Dripping to a fragment of blue ice;
****
Sappho, Sappho
Of the head scarlet-swathed,
Upon every flown chick
Vermillion lips have left their mark.
Your shoelace,
Wind-bent on moist earth,
Bears the scent of your body.
****
Within the bower,
Sweetly repining for love,
Sappho, Sappho,
Lend me one kiss.
****
给 萨 福
美丽如同华云的女诗人们
相互热爱，坐在谷仓中
用一只嘴唇摘取另一只嘴唇
我听见青年中传言道：萨福
一只失群的
钥匙下的绿饿
一样的名字。盖住
我的杯子
托斯卡尔的美丽的女儿
草药和黎明的女儿
执杯者的女儿
你野花
的名字。
就像蓝色冰块上
炎蓝色水清的溢出
萨福萨福
红色的云缠在头上
嘴唇染红了每一次飞过的鸟儿
你散着身体香味的
鞋带被风吹断
在宁土里
谷仓中的嘤嘤之声
萨福萨福
亲我一下
