1In lotus postureit blends with the lichen,a meditative paintingmore tranquil than a catand closer to the cleanness of rain,the tranquility of stone,undisturbed by birds or insects,inside, outside time and space,ambiguous,polysemous,a feline plantmy Buddhist pine.2Winter, spring,seasons leave no trace.This winged apsara, three chi tall,as if a sacred canopy, its green peaksmimicking a mountain range,stanch as a young Greek spearbearerin balanced antitheses.A form so classicalwithstands weatherand the flickered shadowof a passing butterfly.Daylight’s white paperleaves no trace, nor the soundof cars, people, dogs. Translator’s note: The italicized quotation draws from A Record of Buddhist Monasteries in Luoyang (Luoyang Qielan Ji) by Yang Xuanzhi, (386-535 AD), Northern Wei Dynasty.apsara: Hindu and Buddhist mythical spirits of sky and water, expert dancers and musicians, sometimes shown winged. Their images appear across Asia.three chi tall: about 1 meter. 羅漢松i他趺坐融入地衣冥想的丹青比貓更安靜乾淨，更接近雨的乾淨石頭的安靜蟲鳥不驚時空有無歧義多義一株貓科植物我的羅漢松ii季節沒有痕跡以冬，以春以飛天，去地三尺施寶蓋……疊翠重巒的擬態以持矛的少年在希臘對立式平衡一座青銅雕經典，經得起消磨蝶影掠過日照的白紙沒有痕跡車聲人聲犬吠聲
Buddhist Pine
Taipei, November
Feature Date
- October 8, 2024
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- Translation
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English Copyright © 2024 by George O’Connell & Diana Shi.
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission.
Chen Yuhong (陳育虹), born and educated in Taiwan, lived for some years in Canada before settling in Taipei. Essayist and author of eight poetry collections, winner of many awards for both poetry and translation, she is among Taiwan’s most prominent poets. Her most recent collection, 霞光及其它 (Half-light), appeared in 2022 from Hung-fan Books. The Swedish Institute awarded Chen its 2022 International Cikada Prize in poetry.
Chen has translated poetry collections by Louise Glück, Anne Carson, Margaret Atwood, Jack Gilbert, and Carol Ann Duffy, plus a French novel by Matthieu Ricard. Her related awards include the Liang Shih-chiu Literary Translation Prize. Yuhong’s own poetry has recently appeared in French, Dutch, and Japanese volumes. “Buddhist Pine” is from Impossible Paradise, her translators’ recently completed US National Endowment for the Arts Literature project.
George O’Connell, co-translator with Diana Shi of contemporary Chinese-language poetry, has received numerous honors for his poetry, including Atlanta Review’s International Grand Prize and the Pablo Neruda Award, as well as two US National Endowment for the Arts Literature Translation Fellowships. He’s served as Fulbright professor of creative writing and literature at Peking Univ. and at National Taiwan Univ. Among his translations with Ms. Shi are Darkening Mirror by Wang Jiaxin; Crossing the Harbour: Ten Contemporary Hong Kong Poets; Passages: Thirteen Contemporary Taiwan Poets (Bookman Books, 2022); Capriccio on the Way to Buy Salt: Selected Poems by Han Dong; and Impossible Paradise by Chen Yuhong.
Diana Shi (史春波), co-recipient of two US National Endowment for the Arts Literature Translation Fellowships, has collaborated since 2006 with George O’Connell in translating many prominent western and Chinese-speaking poets. In 2012 they launched Pangolin House, pangolinhouse.com, an international journal of poetry and art. Ms. Shi’s extensive selected translations from American poet Arthur Sze’s The Glass Constellation appeared in 2023 as 玻璃星座. Her volume of selections from US poet Jane Hirshfield, 我只要少許 (I Wanted Only a Little), has just been released. Both from Guanxi Normal Univ. Press.
July 2024
Taipei City
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