Image: The Cornfield (1918). Tate Britain, London. John Northcote Nash CBE, RA (11 April 1893 – 23 September 1977)
British painter of landscapes and still-lifes, and a wood engraver and illustrator, particularly of botanic works.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Nash_(artist)
the sun in her green and yellow layer in both landscapes—for Yongbo
在两处景致中，太阳都处于黄绿相间的层次——致永波
her smiles are falling on the two small green palms facing her,
the small warm arms dressed in green flowers,
grandfather’s voice touching the sun
his vocal power drives the daylight, his voice in armfuls,
curating the moment the green stems are lifted into the air.
Here the hay bales are set as yellow boxes against a blue sky,
the grey doves are the many summer voices,
dry yellow strays across the horizon.
The slow healing stage is yellow stretching endlessly,
yellow fruit has wandered purposelessly making a yellow path,
the cleaned pips show how a hungry deer has stood here,
her mouth shedding stones from juice in deep night,
her twitching velvet ears brown as autumn’s paper leaves.
Circular dips in the root of a willow tree sit wide open inviting rain
but the yellow dust prevails,
and in the middle of it one single bindweed opens a white cup,
autumn exhausts all sound, echoing it through the walls of an empty well,
white thistledown moving with the wind above the walking birds,
the afternoon shade is not ours,
we are in the green, yellow and blue
17th August 2025
written in the time of illness, out walking in the English countryside and simultaneously viewing WhatsApp footage taken by Yongbo of his grandson Yutang lifting a bunch of green flowers in the air on a camping trip, with voiceover from Yongbo
Response Poetry By Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨
Response Poetry Translated by Ma Yongbo 马永波
在两处景致中，太阳都处于黄绿相间的层次——致永波
the sun in her green and yellow layer in both landscapes—for Yongbo
她的微笑落在两株面向她的小小绿棕榈上，
那温暖的细枝装扮着绿色的花，
祖父的声音轻触着阳光，
他嗓音的力量驱动着白昼，他的语声如臂弯，
定格下绿色花茎被举向空中的瞬间。
这里，干草捆如黄色盒子衬着蓝天，
灰鸽是众多夏日的絮语，
干枯的黄色漫过地平线。
缓慢的治愈阶段是无尽延展的黄，
黄色果实漫无目的地游荡，铺就一条黄色路径，
清理过的果核显明曾有饥饿的鹿站在这里，
深夜，她的嘴从汁液中抖落石子，
颤动的丝绒耳朵，棕褐色如秋天的纸树叶。
一棵柳树根的圆坑大大敞开，邀请雨的光临
但黄色尘埃占了上风，
其间，一株旋花植物打开一个白色的杯盏，
秋天在耗尽所有声响，让它在空井的井壁间回响，
白色蓟绒在飞鸟的上空随风飘荡，
午后的阴凉不属于我们，
我们身处绿色、黄色与蓝色之中
2025年8月17日于病中所作，漫步英国乡间，观永波WhatsApp视频，拍摄他的孙儿玉堂在
露营时将一束绿花举向空中，配有永波的画外音
Image: The Hay Wain by John Constable RA (11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home – now known as “Constable Country” – which he invested with an intensity of affection. “I should paint my own places best”, he wrote to his friend John Fisher in 1821, “painting is but another word for feeling”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Constable
Between Green and Blue — In Reply to Helen
在绿色与蓝色之间——答海伦
From green to blue, it is from the earth to the sky
from summer to autumn, omitting for the moment the transitional yellow
and the accumulated heat within it, along with the hidden decay
Yet the desolation after harvest is a pool of water under the tongue
when you leap over puddles on the muddy village road, and look up to find
that column of marching sunflowers has finally gone far into the wheat field
Hay bales are cylindrical bed rolls one by one
rolling up a small patch of land, along with everything upon it
they lie neatly on the stubble field
as if an army suddenly withdrew, too hasty to carry them away
left to be soaked by the rains of a season, perhaps
the last bronze grasshopper hides here, singing now and then
The white village church seems ever more distant
the tolling of bells at dawn and dusk scatters petals onto the slow stream
and the hay cart dragged by horses wades across the brook
splashing the ever-collapsing yellow waves upon the reflections
In the afternoon, there is still a cool long wind, and enough azure to gaze upon
embracing all existence on the verge of extinction — the Creator’s mercy
sewing buttons on the horizon with glittering cities one after another
making the arcs it nurtures more plump
and reaching the peak of pure darkness at midnight
Noon of August 20, 2025
Response Poetry By Ma Yongbo 马永波
Response Poetry Translated By Ma Yongbo 马永波
在绿色与蓝色之间——答海伦
Between Green and Blue — In Reply to Helen
从绿色到蓝色，就是从大地到天空
从夏天到秋天，暂时省略了过渡性的黄色
及其内部积聚的热量和暗中的腐朽
而丰收后的荒凉是舌头底下的一汪积水
是你跳过泥泞村路上的雨洼，抬头发现
那一队行军的葵花终于在麦田里走远
干草捆是一个个圆筒形的铺盖卷
将一小片土地卷起，连同上面的一切
它们整齐地分布在残茬地上
仿佛一支军队突然撤离，来不及携带
任由一个季节的雨水浸泡，也许
最后的铜色蝈蝈便藏身于此，偶尔歌唱
白色的乡村教堂显得越发遥远
晨昏的钟声向缓慢的溪流撒下花瓣
而马匹拖曳的干草车趟过小溪
将不断崩溃的黄色波浪泼洒在反光之上
午后依然有清凉的长风，有足够眺望的蔚蓝
接纳一切濒临灭绝的存在——这造物主的慈悲
用一座座闪光的城市为地平线缝上纽扣
让它孕育的弧线更加丰满
并在午夜达到纯粹黑暗的顶点
2025年8月20日中午
Helen Pletts, 2025, Cambridge, photo copyright © Ma Yongbo 马永波 and Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨
Helen Pletts www.helenpletts.com is a British poet based in Cambridge, whose work has been translated into Chinese, Bangla, Greek, Vietnamese, Serbian, Korean, Croatian, Arabic and Italian. She is the English co-translator of Chinese poet Ma Yongbo.
Helen’s poetry has garnered significant recognition, including five shortlistings for the Bridport Poetry Prize (2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024), two longlistings for The Rialto Nature & Place Prize (2018, 2022), a longlisting for the Ginkgo Prize (2019), a longlisting for the National Poetry Competition (2022), 2nd Prize in the Plaza Prose Poetry Competition (2022-23), and a shortlisting for the Plaza Prose Poetry Competition (2023-24).
Her three collections include the illustrated ‘your eye protects the soft-toed snow drop’, with Romit Berger (2022, ISBN 978-9-657-68177-0, Gama Poetry) and two early collections ‘Bottle bank’ (2008 ISBN 978-1-84923-119-0), and ‘For the chiding dove’ (2009, ISBN 978-1-84923-485-6) published by YWO/Legend Press with Arts Council support. Her prizewinning prose poetry features in The Plaza Prizes anthologies, and her eco-poetry appears in anthologies from Open Shutter Press and Fly on the Wall Press. Her work is widely published in journals such as International Times, Vox Populi, Ink Sweat and Tears, Aesthetica, Orbis, The Mackinaw, Cambridge Poetry, The Fenland Reed, Poetry on the Lake, Polismagazino.gr, europeanpoetry.com, Verse-Virtual.org, Magique Publishing, Primelore.com, Deshusa.com, Verseum Literary, Stigmalogou.gr, Area Felix, Masticadoresusa, A Too Powerful Word -Summer 2025, New World Poetry (Chinese)—four of her prose poems, translated by Ma Yongbo, opened the 35th Anniversary Edition dedicated to prose poetry, December 2024.
Publisher Kate Birch describes her work: “Helen’s very personal poetry reveals her strong connection to the natural world while also laying herself open emotionally. She writes with a thoughtful, mesmerising delicacy on love and death, on joy and need, illness and exhaustion.”
I enjoy this collection of poems—Helen has restored her individuality into different animals, plants, and even more tranquil scenes, and this process is neither passive nor deliberately planned. Clearly, this new type of relationship between humans and nature not only opens up a new world for us but also places us in the most fitting position within it. The translator’s non-subjective handling of language style, along with the retention of structures like post-positioned adverbs, allows Helen (who can also be seen as the modern human subject) to faithfully present her sense of restoration within the concise framework of Chinese. Their joint effort gives readers the trinitarian nature of the medium, that precious power which expands through the natural, spiritual, and linguistic ecologies—clear, silent, and growing. (Yan Rong, poet, PhD, professor)
海伦·普莱茨（Helen Pletts）是一位生活在剑桥的英国诗人，其作品已被译为中文、孟加拉语、希腊语、越南语、塞尔维亚语、韩语、阿拉伯语和意大利语。她是中国诗人马永波诗歌的英文合作译者。
普莱茨的诗歌创作屡获殊荣：五度入围布里德波特诗歌奖（2018、2019、2022-2024），两度入选《里亚尔托》自然与地方诗歌奖长名单（2018、2022），入围银杏生态诗歌奖（2019）、英国国家诗歌大赛（2022），获广场散文诗大赛亚军（2022-23）并再度入围该奖项决选名单（2023-24）。
她出版的三部诗集包括与罗米特·伯杰合作的插图诗集《你的眼睛守护着软趾雪花莲》（2022年，ISBN 978-9-657-68177-0，伽马诗歌），以及由青年作家组织/传奇出版社在艺术委员会资助下出版的早期诗集《瓶子银行》（2008年，ISBN 978-1-84923-119-0）与《致训诫之鸽》（2009年，ISBN 978-1-84923-485-6）。其获奖散文诗收录于《广场奖选集》，生态诗歌见于“打开快门”出版社与“墙头蝇”出版社的选集。作品广泛发表于《国际时报》《民众之声》《墨汗泪》《美学》《奥比斯》《麦基诺》《剑桥诗刊》《沼地芦苇》《湖上诗刊》《城邦》《欧洲诗歌》《诗虚拟》《魔法》《原始传说》《德胡萨》《诗界》《理念的圣痕》《菲利克斯领域》以及《新世界诗刊》（中文版）——其中四篇由马永波翻译的散文诗作为开篇之作，刊登于2024年12月出版的散文诗专号（创刊35周年纪念特辑）。
出版人凯特·伯奇如此评价她的作品：“海伦的诗歌极具个人特质，既展现了她与自然世界的深刻关联，又毫无保留地袒露情感。她以一种沉思的、令人着迷的细腻笔触，书写爱与死亡、欢愉与渴求、疾病与衰竭。”
我享受这组诗——海伦把她的个人性还原到了不同的动物、植物甚至更为静谧的场景当中，而且，这个过程并非是被动发生和刻意谋划的；显然，这种人和自然的新型关系，不但为我们敞开了一个新的世界，也在其中安置了我们最为恰切的位置。而译者对语言格调的非主体性处理以及状语后置等形式的保留，让海伦（也可以看作是现代人类主体）的还原意识得以在汉语的简洁框架中忠实呈现。他们的共同努力则使读者获得了三位一体的介质属性，即那宝贵的扩展于自然生态、精神生态和语言生态中的清醒、沉默而生长的力量。（晏榕，诗人，博士，教授）
Ma Yongbo, 2025, Nanjing, photo copyright © Ma Yongbo 马永波
and Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨
Ma Yongbo was born in 1964, Ph.D, representative of Chinese avant-garde poetry, and a leading scholar in Anglo-American poetry. He is the founder of polyphonic writing and objectified poetics. He is also the first translator to introduce British and American postmodern poetry into Chinese, making contributions that fill gaps, the various postmodern poetry schools in Chinese are mostly guided by his poetics and translation.
He has published over eighty original works and translations since 1986 included 9 poetry collections.He focused on translating and teaching Anglo-American poetry and prose including the work of Dickinson, Whitman, Stevens, Pound, Williams and Ashbery. He recently published a complete translation of Moby Dick, which has sold over 600,000 copies. He teaches at Nanjing University of Science and Technology. The Collected Poems of Ma Yongbo (four volumes, Eastern Publishing Centre, 2024) comprising 1178 poems, celebrate 40 years of writing poetry.
His work is widely published in international journals such as New American Writing，Livemag, Cafe Review, International Times, Vox Populi, Ink Sweat and Tears, Orbis, Cambridge Poetry, Polismagazino.gr, europeanpoetry.com, Verse-Virtual.org, Magique Publishing, Primelore.com, Verseum Literary, Area Felix，Masticadoresusa，Feed the Holy，ONE, Sindhcourier，Lingo Lexicon，Worldinkers，Avantappalachia，Masticadorescanada，Madswirl，Collaborature，Allyourpoems，Homouniversalisgr，100subtextsmagazine，Pandemoniumjournal，Cultural Reverence，Rochford Street Review，Synchchaos，Ezra，Autumn Sky Poetry Daily，Nuthatchmag，Posit，Yumpu，Our Poetry Archive，All Your Poems，Subliminal.surgery，Atunis，Insightmagazine，Lothlorien Poetry Journal，Acheron，Gorkogazette，A Too Powerful Word，Chiron Review，Gas，Chewers，Medusaskitchen，Beatnikcowboy，Dear O Deer!，New Black Bart Poetry Society, Edge of Humanity，Liveencounters，Big Other etc.
马永波出生于1964年，文学博士，中国先锋诗歌代表人物，领先的英美诗歌学者。他是复调写作和客观化诗学的奠基者，也是第一个将英美后现代诗歌译介进汉语的翻译家，具有填补空白的贡献，汉语中诸种后现代诗歌流派多受其诗学与翻译的引领。
从1986年起，他已出版原创与翻译著作80余卷，包括9部诗集。他专注于翻译和教授英美诗歌和散文，包括狄金森、惠特曼、史蒂文斯、庞德、威廉斯和阿什贝利的作品。他最近出版了《白鲸》的全译本，销量已超过60万册。他任教于南京理工大学。《马永波诗歌总集》（四卷本，东方出版中心，2024年）共收录1178首诗，庆祝他诗学探索40周年。
Claude Monet, Wheatstacks (End of Summer),[35] 1890–91. Oil on canvas.
Oscar-Claude Monet French, 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his long career, he was the most consistent and prolific practitioner of Impressionism’s philosophy of expressing one’s perceptions of nature, especially as applied to plein air (outdoor) landscape painting.The term “Impressionism” is derived from the title of his painting Impression, soleil levant, which was exhibited in 1874 at the First Impressionist Exhibition, initiated by Monet and a number of like-minded artists.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Monet
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