Two Poems from China

Abstract

Two Poems from China Gao Qiongxian (bio) Translator's note: The practice of face tattooing was discontinued in 1966 but is still a cultural symbol of the Derung people, named after the River of Derung (Lone Dragon). There are about twenty women with face tattoos left. Nanmusa means a shaman/ witch or shamanism in the Derung language. Prophet When crows fly over the villagesPanic erupts like a flash floodSoon after, as Nanmusa has prophesiedA plague spreads along the valleySome life soon evaporated When cuckoo birds chirp aroundVillagers look at each other, at a lossSoon after, the prophecy of the old woman of face tattoosComes true, the birds' chirping has called awaySome human souls Time passes as in an hourglassOvershadowing the Nanmusa of Derung folksNow, women of face tattoos are becoming rareBut when crows circle, cuckoos crying outVillagers still wear sadness on their faces Click for larger view View full resolution Photo by Feng Weixiang (2012) Seven Color Lone-Dragon Blanket Grandma of tattooed face throws the twisted twinesInto a dyeing vat. The twines turn red, yellow, blue, blackRed is the orange-red bark of winter melonsBlack is the black of walnut barkYellow is the yellow of the bark of three-needle treesBlue is the blue of the roots of woad herbs Gru, a teenage-looking middle-aged Lone Dragon manLoves ancient crafts. He builds a traditionalLone Dragon plant-dyeing labOn the wisdom of old men's memoryWith red, black, yellow, and blueHe vows to make seven colorsFor the women weavers of Lone DragonNot far away, the old face-tattooed Li WenshiIs weaving a rainbow in the sky Translations from the Chinese [End Page 30] Gao Qiongxian Gao Qiongxian (b. 1986) is an ethnic minority poet of Derung (Dulong) nationality from the remote Yunnan region of southwest China. After obtaining a BA and MBA from the Central Ethnic University in Beijing, she returned to Yunnan in 2015 and became the deputy director of the Gongshan County Writers' Union in 2020. Her first book of poems is forthcoming in 2024. Ming Di Ming Di is a poet from China based in the US. The author of seven books of poetry in Chinese and one in collaborative translation, River Merchant's Wife (2012), she has compiled and co-translated New Cathay: Contemporary Chinese Poetry, Empty Chairs: Poems by Liu Xia, The Book of Cranes, and New Poetry from China 1917–2017. For her translations of English poetry into Chinese, she received the Lishan Poetry Award and the 2021 Best Ten Translator Award in China. Copyright © 2023 World Literature Today and the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma