Gu Cheng: Selected Poems

Preface — xi

An Autobiographical Montage — xxi

Early Lyrics
One Generation — 1
The Origin of Moon and Stars ‧ Chimney — 1
Nameless Flowers — 2
A Fantasia to Life — 3
An Ending — 6
Developing — 6
Shadow of Mountain — 7
Ancient Site — 7
Two Love Markets — 8
A Snowman — 9
At Parting — 10
Don’t Say Anything Anymore, I’m not Going to Give in — 13
Here We Cannot Get to Know Each Other — 13
Twittering and Chattering Stillness — 14
A Stare — 15
For My Reserved Master Hans Andersen — 16
Martydom — 17
The Cliffs — 18
Huadiao’s Apologia — 19
Waterlands — 21
A Small Lane — 25
Child’s Play — 25
Near and Far — 26
Rite — 26
Thatched Hut — 27
Arc — 27
A Split Pair — 28
Curriculum Vitae — 30
To a Null Star — 30
Winter Day’s Longing — 31
By the Edge of the Dream Sea — 32
Evasion — 32
See You Again — 33
Final Farewell to a Graveyard — 34
Solace — 41
New Year’s Eve — 41
Nostos I — 42
Nostos II — 43
Lacuna — 44
The Land Rolls Off — 44
Early Summer — 45
Harvest — 46
I’m an Obstinate Child — 46
An Ancient War — 49
My Graveyard — 50
To My Deceased Grandmother — 50
The Wind Stole Our Oar — 52
In this Broad, Bright World — 53
White Nights — 54
A Yellow Mud Track in Winter — 55
No More Goodbyes — 56
Birthday — 57
In the Calm Before the Storm — 58
Antiphony of Ghostly Voices — 59
I Can Breathe Like Green Grass — 63
Ode to Spring — 64
Overlapping Shadows — 65
Sometimes I Really Wish — 67
By the Door — 68
Dream Garden — 68
Old Times — 69
The Coming — 74
The Parted Sea — 74
Images in Black and White — 77
The Evening of Life — 78
Pure Land — 80
Poverty, the Tip of His Nose is Gold — 81
Flowers of Morning — 82
Confession — 84
The Patterns of the Sea — 84
Truly, This is the World — 88
Distribution — 89
Iron Bell — 89
Stillness, a Man Falls from a Horse — 94

The Bulin File
About Bulin — 98
Bulin: Birth & Departure from the Country — 99
Who’d Have Thought — 101
Discovery — 102
Bulin Met Bandit — 104
Bulin’s Composition for the Professional Lullaby Composers’ Entrance Exam — 105
Bulin’s Speech to the Nursery Supreme Council — 106
Bulin’s Prayer: A Live Recording — 106
The Bulin March — 108
The Bulin Non-March — 108
Agenda “0” — 109
A Couplet — 109
Bulin is Dead, It Seems — 110
An Elegy — 111
Bulin’s Last Will & Testament — 111

A Eulogy World: A Poem Cycle
1. It is the Tree’s Capacity to Swim — 112
2. A Prompt — 112
3. Childhood — 113
4. Adolescence — 113
5. Ark — 113
6. Sketch on Demand — 114
7. A Painting Inside a Snuff Bottle — 115
8. Campaign — 116
9. Blank TV Screen — 116
10. I am Still Collecting Golden Pipe Tobacco — 117
11. Uprising — 118
12. Vehicle — 118
13. Source — 118
14. Book Cover — 119
15. Words — 119
16. Narrative — 119
17. Self — 120
18. Right there, in that Small Village — 120
19. Accomplice — 121
20. Mid-Month — 121
21. Early Riser — 122
22. Misfortune Arrives as Expected — 122
23. After the Air Raid — 123
24. River Mouth — 123
25. The Season — Preserving Evening and Morning — 124
26. Before Sleep — 127
27. Primary School — 127
28. Butterfly — 127
29. Dirge — 128
30. New Year's Painting — 128
31. Horned Toad — 128
32. Ancient Days — 129
33. Tuning in — 129
34. Blood Relations — 130
35. A Pack of Wolves — 130
36. Creditor's Rights — 130
37. Nature — 131
38. Handling the World — 131
39. A Eulogy World — 132
40. The Beginning of Troubled Times — 132
41. Weekend — 133
42. The Queen on the Coin — 133
43. The Soul Lives in a Lonely House — 134
44. Departure — 134
45. Afternoon — 134
46. And — 135
47. Silver Jewels of the Afternoon — 135
48. Of — 135

Quicksilver: A Poem Cycle
1. Name — 136
2. Eye — 136
3. Bungalow — 137
4. Stop — 137
5. The Look of the Wind — 138
6. Ink Brush — 138
7. Red Wine — 139
8. Curtain Pull — 139
9. Scarlet — 140
10. Heap — 140
11. Going to School — 141
12. The Sky is There Above — 142
13. Accident — 142
14. Trap Door — 143
15. Wicker Vat — 143
16. A Peck — 144
17. As Clear as Can Be — 144
18. Aid — 145
19. Table — 145
20. Wish — 146
21. When the Time Comes — 146
22. Physiognomy of the Scholar in Sackcloth — 147
23. Not Many Birds are Left in the Village — 148
24. The Things We Write — 148
25. Time — 149
26. The One in the Sun — 149
27. Man — 149
28. Or — 150
29. Quicksilver — 150
30. Yeah — 150
31. Edge — 152
32. Homework — 153
33. I Give You Each a Knife — 154
34. Warm Day — 155
35. Tenebrous — 156
36. Home. Home — 156
37. Alumina — 157
38. Smoking — 158
39. Red Wheat — 158
40. The Dharma Gate — 159
41. Leo — 160
42. Arrow — 161
43. Telex — 162
44. Thoroughfare — 162
45. Solar Halo — 163
46. Halfback — 163
47. Deedledeedee — 164
48. Lesser Spirit — 167

Misty Mondō — 168

Afterword — 172

Translators — 181

'… an important reference work for those interested in both Gu Cheng's poetry and his idiosyncratic ideals.'
—The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs

'… a most distinctive voice that will be remembered for a long time to come.'
—World Literature Today

'… this is an admirably produced book … [A]ll the signs are that this is a publishing enterprise of high quality scrupulously undertaken.'
—South China Morning Post