Issue One - April 2007
Christopher Kelen
Christopher (Kit) Kelen is an Associate Professor at the University of Macau in south China, where he has taught Literature and Creative Writing for the last seven years. The most recent of Kelen’s seven volumes of poetry Eight Days in Lhasa was published by VAC in Chicago in 2006. A volume of Macao poems Dredging the Delta is forthcoming from Cinnamon Press in the U.K.
Free translations from Xin Qiji (1140-1207)
water dragon chant
#3
the horses of heaven float back from the south
the elders of the central plain wish to attack the north
nothing changes
around the Prime Minister's villa the party goes on day and night
fragrance of flowers, songs with birds singing, it's always 'let's raise just this one more cup'
those officials meant to protect the country empty it of what's worth saving
how efficient they are
the northern tribes will never come knowing there's not a thing left for them
congratulating the bride
I can't help it but I'm getting old I don't travel much anymore old friends are fewer white hair is more you laugh at the world or you cry
what is there makes an old man happy? not weddings so much I'm sorry to say but I look into green mountains among them lies always the smile of a valley the mountain and I this way alike
a glass of my favourite brew by the window and waiting for a friend to come I think of Tao Yuanming's poem − the motionless cloud − that's me
those who wish to be famous drink on the other side of the river discover deep meanings in dregs of the wine
I turn my head now to roar with the wind I'll never regret having not met the heroes though I could do with one or two here right now
what worries me though is just that they'd trip over my beard if they came
second poem to the slow tune of 'lily magnolias'
down now I'm old libido less at banquets I fear how merciless time
autumn's coming moon's bright and round but it won't shine on my next reunions the Yellow Springs are too far
if the emperor asks me to pen him an edict I've already worked out what I will say
my wish is to wake from wine into autumn play over its empty strings
the river cares for nothing, for nobody follows the west wind
and whether they're king's or whether they're commoners' that wind blows boats away
god of water
I laugh at the water god wonder what angers him
I laugh at the goddess now amending the sky
no paths to follow through this weed, this mist
I take a walking stick to the dark green moss
was it I who asked for this wind for this rain all these thousand years?
the shepherd boys here started a fire sometimes oxen and sheep will lock horns
spring on the rock like a drop of fresh milk now and then jade blossoms there
four, five pagodas singing and dancing
water god, goddess both laugh at me now
peasants call 'don't think too hard, just join in'
how can I get Spring to stay?
how can I get Spring to stay? tonight there's nothing in my cup
the five hours −
each has its own dream
paws up in sleep but each dream runs away
morning − the birds here
sing the sun up
behind closed curtains and closed lids I let the jade screen's story run