Image: Ma Yongbo 马永波 in the Tang Dynasty City that Never Sleeps, Xi’an, May 16, 2025
Xi’an man—for Yongbo
西安男子——致永波
standing in the city that never sleeps
is the dark haired man that never sleeps
studying the discipline of night.
Night with ever moving red lines,
measuring in between night,
for the black night that is left;
night herself dizzy with red.
Night looking into her phone
and sending another dark image of herself
next to a standing man who is still awake.
Night remembering a young man
riding through on a red horse,
cupping night in his bare hands
and holding a part of her forever.
15th May 2025
Response Poetry By Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨
Response Poetry Translated by Ma Yongbo 马永波
西安男子——致永波
Xi’an man—for Yongbo
伫立在不眠之城
那黑发不寐的男子
研习着夜的法则
流动不息的红色线条
在夜与夜之间丈量
为余下的漆黑；
夜自己因红色而眩晕
夜低头看手机
发送另一张她自己的暗像
旁边站着仍然醒着的男子
夜忆起某个少年
骑着红马掠过
徒手将她捧起
把她的一部分永远握住
2025年5月15日
Two Images, Image one: Xi’an illuminated at night. Xi’an was once an important Ancient Tang Dynasty city, people like to visit and hire ancient costumes to walk about in.
From 1982-86, Ma Yongbo 马永波 attended Jiaotong University, in Xi’an, revisiting in May 2025 and subsequently writing this poem ‘Waking Up in Early Summer in Chang’an 在长安的初夏醒来’ on the 13th May.
“After graduation, in 1987, my poetic style changed drastically, opening up a new path of “narrative poetics.” A series of works represented by ‘A Chilly Winter Night Going Alone to Watch a Soviet Film’ pioneered the shift of Chinese poetry from pure lyricism to polyphonic narration, and eventually became a sort of “prominent discipline” in the 1990s, as seen in the widely influential ‘Little Hui’ and other works.
Now that life has entered its early winter, looking back on the mental journey of my university years and that era where “poetry, love, and revolution” were a trinity, I am both moved by the ruthlessness of time’s passage and content with it because of continuous creativity. I should be grateful for the guidance of the Muse—I have not strayed from the path in this life, nor changed my original intention. The joys and sorrows of life have all been transformed into poems of varying lengths, which in itself is an extremely precious gift.”
Ma Yongbo 马永波 December 17-20, 2022, Luohan Lane, Nanjing
Waking Up in Early Summer in Chang’an 在长安的初夏醒来
Waking up in early summer when locust trees line the streets of Chang’an
in an inn called “Imperial City Post”
no couriers, no horses for relay
not even a bony, knife-sharp donkey
no misty rain that soaks the clothes
I wander alone, trying to recall
the name of a certain street. Those children
wear uniform blue-and-white school uniforms
heavy schoolbags on their backs
only they no longer recite my poems
nor is there a white screen wall for me to write verses
regardless of drunk poet friends who once splashed ink upon it
This ancient capital where I spent four years of bitter youth
has completely erased my memories
like footprints in water
swarms of mayflies gather and disperse on the water’s surface
who was I, and who was once me?
If I keep walking, out of any city gate
I will meet my 18-year-old self
with tangled hair, clutching a flattened wine flask
perhaps, a scroll of blurry poems hidden in my sleeve
just awakened from an embrace that has grown cold
Written in the morning of May 13, 2025, in Xi’an (ancient name: Chang’an)
By Ma Yongbo 马永波
Translated by Ma Yongbo 马永波
在长安的初夏醒来 Waking Up in Early Summer in Chang’an 马永波
在长安满街槐树的初夏醒来
在一座叫做”皇城驿”的旅馆
没有驿卒，没有可供替换的马匹
甚至没有瘦骨棱棱锋利如刀的蹇驴
没有沾衣欲湿的雨
我独自游荡，试图回忆起
某条街道的名字。孩子们
穿着统一的蓝白校服，书包沉重
只是他们不再朗读我的诗
也没有一处白色影壁让我题诗
毫不顾忌有哪些醉酒的诗友曾经泼墨于上
这座我度过四年苦涩青春的古都
竟已把我的记忆彻底消灭
如同水中的脚印
大群蜉蝣在水面时聚时散
我曾是谁，谁又曾经是我？
如果一直走，走出任何一座城门
我就会遇见十八岁的自己
乱发纠结，怀揣一只压扁的酒壶
也许，袖子里还藏着一卷字迹模糊的诗
刚刚从某个已经变冷的怀抱中醒来
2025年5月13日晨于西安，西安古称长安，马永波
Chinese link here https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/uIXWWlKIYGSTuQzRK_ShIg
Image two : Xi’an at night
The custom of “Wine-Drinking by Winding Stream” originated in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. On the third day of the third lunar month, people would gather by winding watersides to feast and enjoy the scenery. In the Tang Dynasty, every year on the third day of the third lunar month, which coincided with the official release of the list of successful candidates in the imperial examinations, the emperor would host a banquet for these new jinshi (advanced scholars) at Qujiang Pool. The scholars would place wine cup on the winding water surface. As the cups floated along with the current, whoever the cup drifted to would pick it up, drink freely, and compose a poem on the spot. Then everyone would evaluate these poems.
Image: The Orchid Pavilion Ritual of Purification by Qian Gu, Ming Dynasty
The Drifting Wine Cup
漂流的酒杯
In late spring, the sound of water filtered through sand and stones grows louder,
the stream leaves large boulders on the shoal like greyish-white skulls,
we sit facing downstream, in a mountain hollow,
the grass behind us grows deeper and deeper,
deep enough to hide feet in it, and roots too.
In days past, we could pass cups and strawberries across the stream,
pass tree shadows, pass a yellow leaf just fallen from last autumn,
with a gentle touch on the water’s surface, we’d also send tremors from above
downstream, through pebbles and black mud at the bottom,
to the soft riverbank, the willows on the bank, and the wings on the willows.
We turn our backs on the source—the mountains beyond and the homeland of clouds,
we do not know what drifts toward us from behind,
we have forgotten the path we took to arrive,
we face away from the future, motionless in silence,
waiting for the breath of open water to drift far here,
waiting for the entire world to spin downstream past us.
May 2, 2011
Response Poetry By Ma Yongbo 马永波
Response Poetry Translated By Ma Yongbo 马永波
漂流的酒杯
The Drifting Wine Cup
暮春时节，经过砂石过滤的水声又大了起来
溪水把大块的漂砾像灰白色的脑壳一样留在浅滩
我们面向下游而坐，在山坳里
我们身后的草越来越深了
深得可以把脚藏在里面，把根须藏在里面
而往日，隔着溪水就可以传递杯子和草莓
传递树影，传递一枚刚刚脱落的去秋的黄叶
在水面的轻轻一点，我们也将来自高处的震颤
一直向下游传递，通过水底的卵石和黑泥
传向松软的岸边，岸边的柳树，柳树上的翅膀
我们背对着源头，源头之外的高山和云的故乡
我们不知道有什么从身后漂过来
我们忘记了来时的路
我们背对未来，寂然不动
等待水面开阔的气息，远远传来
等待整个世界，从我们身边旋转着顺流而下
2011-05-02
Image: Xi’an Qujiang Pond Ruins Park
Image: Xi’an Art Museum illuminated at night
Image: Ma Yongbo 马永波 , with warrior hair, Xi’an, 21st May 2025
Ma Yongbo 马永波 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 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, European Poetry, Verse-Virtual, Magique Publishing, Primelore, 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。
Image: Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨, with warrior hair, Cambridge, August 2025
Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨 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, European Poetry, Verse-Virtual, Magique Publishing, Primelore, Deshusa, Verseum Literary, Stigmalogou.gr, Area Felix, Masticadoresusa, A Too Powerful Word , 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.”
Helen Pletts, as translated by Yongbo, is in intimate communion with nature, where life is tethered to agile imagery, gliding through the breath of the wind, as intricate and light as a dream. Everything is endowed with the power of speech, each thing has its own expression, and yet, within her spirit, they attain unity and profound wholeness. There are no flashes of lightning, no crashing waves—only the gentle murmur of a stream, echoing countless times within the heart. (Yang Yujun, poet, translator)
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《新大陆诗刊》（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。”
永波译的海伦，与自然亲密无间，生命依附着灵巧的意象，在风的呼吸中滑行，像幻梦一样纷繁而轻盈。万物都被赋予了言说的能力，有了各自的表达，又在她的性灵中获得统一和完整的深刻。没有电闪雷鸣，没有惊涛骇浪，而是涓涓细流的低诉，在心中无数次地回响。（杨于军，诗人，翻译家）
All images under individual copyright © to either Ma Yongbo 马永波 or Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨
.