More Poems by Meng Lang

Meng Lang was an editor of underground poetry journals in Shanghai during the 1980s. In 1995 he went to America, where he held a one-year residency under theFreedom to Write Program at Brown University. He is a recipient of the Hellman-Hammet Award. He is a co-founder of the Chinese Independent P.E.N. Center, an
affiliate of P.E.N. International. He now lives in Hong Kong.


SILENCE IN CHINA


Silence in China, this open book
Blown in high wind to make crackling sounds
As if from touching a huge electric current
As if the current sends out showers of sparks

From time heaped up since awakening
I have pulled out this book ten thousand pages thick
Right away through the air I see
10,000 pairs of pure wings growing

They will soon be charged with current, they will
surely blaze with light
Silence in China, being openly published
Openly propagandizing, openly agitating
Its ten thousand pairs, yes ten thousand pairs of pure wings.

(Translated from Chinese by Denis Mair)


DREAM STORY


The poet strikes out at nothingness
With the force of his body
Tonight this weapon is roaming the streets

Nanjing Road, a deathly silence
As if after a war, as if even further away
Foodstuffs drift to earth beneath parachutes

Iron smelted red hot in the factory
Now black and cold, exposing fearsome gashes
A dream getting bent, sword beaten to plowshare

A column of farmers disappears down Xi-zang Road
The asphalt lake has no footprints on its surface
And the farmers are merely shadows of happiness

The poet strikes out at nothingness
Gradually he regains consciousness
He loosens his fists; stars are dusted between his fingers

(Translated from Chinese by Denis Mair)


PLUNGING NOTES

Mistake performed at iced-over concert
Great piano, slides toward abyss
Piano lid already raised

Divinely aided hand is wind
Stones chased by sandstorm press down keys
Judgment day is no more than this

Within abyss shine beams of light
Veiled soprano like Heaven rising

Cliff-edge blocks my way
Plunge to decadence not wholly in my sight
My body stands among greater dangers

Song lofts itself zenith-ward
Someone masked floats to settle beside me
Day of judgment no more than this


Abyss can pull shut its two-leafed door, confiscate
Every voice from the choir of naked beasts

(Translated from Chinese by Denis Mair)