I NAME HIM ME
Douban
SELECTED POEMS OF MA YAN
Ma Yan Tradotto da: Stephen Nashef
Sinossi
The poetry of Ma Yan, born in 1979 in Sichuan province, has garnered increasing attention in China since her untimely death in 2010. She stands out as a poet who is simultaneously playful and fearless in her explorations of subjectivity and inter-subjectivity, writing intimate yet arresting poetry of great emotional breadth. Her work delves into questions of gender, mental health, death, desire, physicality and our personal interactions to show how they all shape the raw experience of existence. I Name Him Me is the first collection of her poetry to appear in English.
contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Rite of Passage 15
The Self’s Art of Illusion 21
Suffering Does Not Destroy What Makes Suffering Possible 23
Saxifrage 25
With a Desire for Something 27
This Warmth Has No Source 29
A Sweltering Dinner in July 31
Dissection Class 35
Jokes, Irony, Mockery, and Deeper Significances 37
Study 39
I Respect Your Complexity 41
To Everyone’s Demons and Angels 43
The Love of Little Girls 47
To the Walker by the Lake 51
Fine Snow 53
The World Rains a Night 57
Looking at the Lake From a Hill 61
Knocking Persimmons in Autumn 63
After the Rain 65
Cherry 67
That Tiny Door 69
The Person Playing Fiddle in the Snow 71
Murder 73
Sunday, I Sit on Glass 77
Stranger 79
The Dancing Bohemian Woman 81
Uncursed Salomé 83
Bus Chronicle 87
Yes, I Must Die 89
The Storm Is Coming 93
Sixth of July (Happiness Requires Concealment) 95
The Year Bacterium Was Born 97
Old Robot 99
Flirting (Teasing Out Feeling) 101
Just Take It Easy 105
He Falls in Love with Someone and Closes His Eyes in the Dark 107 Chengdu Nights 109
A Teahouse on a Rainy Day (or Lion Rock) 111
The Paintings Are All More or Less Disingenuous 113
Extravaganza 115
Love Poem 119
Dusk in April 121
Small Is Small 123
Smooth Talker 127
Television 129
We Have a Kitchen with All the Lights Blazing 131
A Gray Attic Houses Us
133 Wildlife Park 137
Fragrant Mountain 139
We Boarded the Rollercoaster and Flew into the Future 141
Acknowledgments 145
Translator’s Note 147
End Notes 155