Rain water cannot wash clean the world’s filth

Cannot scrub away the copper rust in the heart…

Chu Zi is a writer, poet, calligrapher and painter

Chu Zi, whose real name is Zhou Qiong, was born in Xiangtan City, Hunan Province, China in the 1960s. He is a writer, poet, calligrapher and painter. So far, he has created 23 literary and art monographs, among which 6, including full-length novels, poetry collections, prose collections and literary criticism collections, have been published by national-level publishing houses. His literary works have been included in more than 100 anthologies such as 300 Chinese New Poems (1917-2012) (published in Canada), Anthology of Chinese Erotic Poems (published in Australia), Selected Poems of Ten Contemporary Chinese Poets (published in Greece), and Selected Works of Chinese Writers, Calligraphers and Painters. Some of his works have been translated and spread to European and American countries. He has published a calligraphy and painting collection Paintings and Words from Tuiwu Hall. He has successively held personal calligraphy and painting exhibitions and joint exhibitions in places such as the Louvre in Paris, Xiangtan, Hangzhou, Beijing, Lanzhou, Chongqing and Guiyang.

楚子，本名周琼，男，中国湖南湘潭市人，上世纪60年代生。作家、诗人、书画家，被称为中国文艺界的全才。至今共创作文艺专著23部，已由国家级出版社出版长篇小说、诗集、散文集，文艺评论集等计6部。文学作品入选《中国新诗300首（1917-2012）》（加拿大出版）、《中国性爱诗选》（澳大利亚出版）、《中国当代十诗人诗选》（希腊出版），《中国作家书画家作品精选》等百余种选本，部分作品经翻译传播到欧美等国。出版书画集《退悟堂画语》，先后在法国巴黎卢浮宫、湘潭、杭州、北京、兰州、重庆、贵阳等地举办个人书画展和联展 。

(Translated by Ma Yongbo)

Rain Water

Sowing rain is for flowing

Sowing rain is but for ten thousand acres of lotus

Sowing rain is but for that bequeathed instruction

Sowing rain is the mottled hues of the Hanging Monastery

 

Rain teaches one to ponder, the peril of time

Rain has long been floating in the bladder

Like the prelude of pearls dropping on a jade plate

That trivial matter in the city’s mist

Is but the solace after rain’s fluster

 

Rain has long been growing in the hair

A dream net shrouds the flow of thoughts

The sigh of the old tree at the street corner

Sprouts a street full of blooming flowers

Buds unfold the sky’s sorrow

Pedestrians are like smoke, umbrellas like bowls

Illusion, only for the vitality in the rain curtain

Trampled water droplets are oxen sweating under heavy loads

A cage from which none can leap

 

Rain water cannot wash clean the world’s filth

Cannot scrub away the copper rust in the heart

You are the rain that chases sorrows away

God’s drunk tears hold no answers

Empty fantasies and vicious fights across the world

Reincarnation is but a misunderstanding

 

Sowing rain, rain fades away silently

Like my yesterday leaving moisture behind

Yet unable to grasp the hem of the sky

Rain is wisdom

A drop of crystal clarity

Patting awake the chastity of plants

Plucking the strings of the world’s muddle

Letting the ever-burning fire take root in the blood

The great river flows east

No more than last night’s tears rushing forth

A river of spring water flowing east

Is the vigilance of dark clouds and lightning!

***

雨水

种雨是为了流淌

种雨只为万顷莲花

种雨只为那句遗训

种雨是悬空寺的斑驳

 

雨教人思量，时间之险

雨一直在膀胱里飘着

如珠落玉盘的序曲

城市雾气中那点小事

仅是雨慌乱后的慰藉

 

雨一直长在发丝

梦幻网笼罩思绪流

街角老树的叹息声

蹿出满街繁花

花骨朵盛开天空的悽苦

行人如烟伞似碗

幻觉，只为雨幕中的生机

踏碎的水珠是汗牛

跳不出的囚笼

 

雨水洗不净尘世的腌脏

涮不去心中的铜锈

你是忘忧雨

神的醉泪没有答案

满世界的空想和恶斗

轮回只是一场误会

 

种雨，雨悄然消逝

如同我的昨天

留下了湿润

却抓不住天的衣角

雨是智慧

一滴晶莹

拍醒植物的贞操

拨响人间的懵懂

让生生不息的火根植血脉

大江东去

不过是昨夜泪奔

一江春水东流

是乌云、闪电的警觉

***

There Is a Line Called Tree

The world is made of lines

There is a line called tree

A water ski slaps the water’s banter

Clusters of green grapes hang at the waist of the woods

Whispering with vines, understanding with the cicada shells

From the depths of the tree hole come coughs and warships

The wind pushes open the branches, leans on a crutch and goes out

Converses with fish in the pavilion

Discussing the direction of right and wrong

 

The tree is disorderly, and disorder is beauty

Either standing on a hillock or squatting in a gully

Or on my poor brow bone

Bending, nesting, stretching, clinging

Weaving the state of life

Being wild, being elegant, being unrestrained, being childish

Expressing the essence of living

You are the majority on earth

An extension of water, a dream of soil

Born to transform, transform to be born

Abiding by the laws of continuity and replacement

Standing, clinging, transforming, giving birth

 

Beauty is a posture, it interweaves

Beauty is a perception, it is emotional

The beauty of life and movement is a linear narration

Lines are more beautiful in curves

It is the dryness, wetness, thickness, lightness

And scorch brought by the turning of a writing brush

Matching colors or eliminating all colors

Leaving emotions, even if it is hatred

Emerging or presenting, displaying

Mess is beauty, listlessness is beauty, entanglement is beauty

Emptiness is beauty, silence is beauty, abruptness is beauty

Concepts say beauty, and beauty is you

A line is elasticity, thickness, length, shortness and interest

Drawing lines with will

The trees between heaven and earth are in constant motion

 

Lines monopolize and entangle

Infinitely interweaving the beauty of disorder

So beautiful that the sun is jealous

A tree is the title for people who muddle along

Stone can be called a tree

Soil, air, light can be called a tree

Person can be called a tree

We are arranged, each independent

We are wood, trees, forest

Concepts are lonely yet leave a lingering fragrance

 

But who is the hunter in the forest?!

***

有一根线条叫树

世界由线条构成

有一根线条叫树

水漂拍打水的咨笑

一串串绿葡萄

悬在林子腰间

与藤蔓细语与蝉壳默契

树洞深处吐出咳嗽和艨艟

风推开枝丫拄着拐杖出门

在亭子里与鱼对话

讨论是非的方向

 

树错乱，乱即美

或站在小冈或蹲在沟壑

或在我贫穷的眉骨上

弯着、窝着、伸着、攀着

编织着生命的状态

狂着、雅着、浪着、稚着

抒写活着的精义

你是地球上的大多数

是水的延展，土壤的梦想

生而化之，化而生之

遵守循与替的规律

站着、贴着，化着，生着

 

美是一种姿态，它交织

美是一种认知，它情绪

生和动的美是线性诉说

线美于曲

是毛笔使转出的干湿浓淡焦

配色或摒除所有颜色

留下情感，哪怕是恨

浮现或呈现、展现

狼藉是美萎靡是美胶作是美

空是美寂是美突兀是美

观念说美美就是你

线是弹性是粗细长短意趣

用意志画线

天地间的树无所不动

 

线垄断并缠绕

无限交织着零乱美

美到太阳嫉妒

树是苟且的人的称谓

可以把石头叫树

泥土、气、光叫树

把人叫树

我们排列彼此独立

我们是木、树、林子

概念孤寂而留有余香

 

可谁是林中狩猎者？！

***

The Station

Past, present, future

Memories are crowded

Time is the heartbeat

A group of old friends in the old place

A bunch of people who reject logic

And solve the “goose” with images

Life has long chiseled people into shuttle shapes

Children play with gravity

Fate is thrown into the gully of Chinese characters

Sunlight crams into the toothpaste tube

 

A phone call punches into the artery

The news still needs verification

Sagittarius shoots down Leo

Two beams of light sway to and fro in the nebula

Rock layers shift, the heart is torn out

Blood spurts, sighs rise and fall

Banana leaves dance

Children parachute onto the windowsill

Pigeons tidying their wings gorge on chili peppers

Faces and necks dislocate

Skeletons bow on the stage all day long

Numbers crush, swarms of butterflies fly

Red and blue light spots stick to thick glass

The cosmic god warns the devil

He who gnaws dragon bones shall spit out the brats

 

Desires are being boiled

Tossing the head back, ankle joints dislocate

A tornado departs from the head

In the waiting room, the whistle blows

Music notes bind tight the illusions

The territory collapses with a crash

***

车站

过去、现在、未来

记忆拥挤

时间便是心跳

老地方一群老友

一伙拒绝逻辑

用形象解决鹅的人

生活早把人削成梭形

孩子们玩着万有引力

命运被扔进汉字的沟壑

阳光挤满牙膏

 

一个电话打进动脉

消息尚需证实

射手座击落狮子座

两束光在星云晃来荡去

岩层移动，心被掏出

血喷，叹息声起伏

芭蕉叶跳舞

孩子们空降窗台

收拾翅膀的鸽狂食辣椒

脸和脖子脱节

骷髅在舞台鞠躬一整天

数字碾压，蝴蝶群飞

红蓝光斑粘厚玻璃

宇宙神警告魔鬼

噬龙骨者必吐出毛孩子

 

欲念被烹煮

一昂头，脚关节脱落

龙卷风从脑际出发

候车室里，气笛声响

音符绑紧幻影

领地轰然坍塌

___________________  

Read: The Great River – Poetry from China