Marc Chagall. Nocturne (Night scene). 1947
“In our life, there is a single colour, as on an artist’s palette, which provides
the meaning of life and art. It is the colour of love.” Marc Chagall
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Chagall
are you home? it is deep night
——WhatsApp message to Helen Pletts from Ma Yongbo
你在家吗？已是深夜
——马永波发给海伦·普莱茨的WhatsApp消息
The point of the black bow is scuttled on the rocks
and the blackest sea is a tempest.
The stars don’t care for darkness;
only that it holds silver in forever,
and what is distance to a star
means a dark gap elsewhere
when the star is no more.
When I left, earlier, the circles of light were steady
comfortable rings around the sun,
now the wooden bar is as high as my ears
and my head spins with conversation.
The darkness is a coaxing drive along
black in an empty headlight. Nothing
moving in silver on earth; nothing moving
above me in silver that I will remember
no soft white owl dances
no pines stirring. A spring darkness halting
without frost, is a surprise of warmth,
and the message in the phone says this
26th March 2025, written late at night in my car,
I pulled over in countryside to write this on my
phone, on my way home, in response to Yongbo’s
WhatsApp message
Response Poetry by Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨
Response Poetry Translated by Ma Yongbo 马永波
Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨, 16th July 2025, Cambridge, Planet Earth, The Universe
你在家吗？已是深夜
——马永波发给海伦·普莱茨的WhatsApp消息
are you home? it is deep night
——WhatsApp message to Helen Pletts from Ma Yongbo
黑色的船尖在岩石上沉没
而最黑的海是一场风暴。
星星不在乎黑暗；
只在乎它永远蕴藏着银色，
对星星而言，距离意味着
当它不复存在时
别处将有一道漆黑的间隙。
早先我离开时，光圈是稳定的
舒适的圆环环绕着太阳，
此刻木制吧台已高及我的双耳
我的脑袋因交谈而晕眩。
黑暗是一次哄骗性的驾驶
沿着空荡头灯中的黑色。没有什么
在地上的银色中移动；没有什么
在头上的银色中移动。我会记住
没有猫头鹰跳舞时的柔软
没有松枝的摇曳。一个春天的黑暗停顿下来
没有霜冻，是一场温暖的惊喜，
而手机里的留言就是这样写的。
2025年3月26日海伦·普莱茨
深夜在车里写的 我把车停在乡间，
用手机写下了这段话，
当时我正在回家的路上，
回复永波的WhatsApp消息
A Spring Darkness Halting
—for Helen Pletts
一个春天的黑暗停顿下来
——给海伦·普莱茨
Darkness descends on every road, the dark rustles
like someone flipping through a vast invisible book.
He must find that long-forgotten silver word in time,
his body blackens segment by segment, turning to ash
yet remains stubbornly upright.
Midnight frost has transformed grey tiles to silver scales,
the rooftop as a great fish arches its spine toward endless stars
ready to depart for an interstellar colony.
Darkness is acceleration, trees along the path lean accordingly.
Even the darkest matter, reaching certain velocity,
becomes a sphere of silver light, nothing can obstruct
fear and joy turning transparent with speed.
Yet he still searches the book for an ancient spell
to make a spring darkness halt its course.
Like one who stops midway driving home through deep night,
listening to the silver breath of surrounding trees,
listening to the suddenly vast silence.
27 March 2025, noon
Response Poetry by Ma Yongbo 马永波
Response Poetry Translated by Ma Yongbo 马永波
Ma Yongbo 马永波, Nanjing, China, Planet Earth, The Universe
一个春天的黑暗停顿下来
——给海伦·普莱茨
A Spring Darkness Halting
—for Helen Pletts
黑暗降临在所有的路上，黑暗沙沙作响
像是有人在快速翻阅一本无形的大书
他必须及时找到那个久以遗忘的银色词语
他的身体在一截截变黑，变成灰烬
但依然保持着直立的固执
午夜的霜已将那些灰瓦变成了银色的鳞片
屋顶，一条大鱼朝无尽星空隆起了脊背
就要启程出发，前往一个星际殖民地
黑暗是一种加速度，沿途的树木将因此而倾斜
即便再黑暗的事物，到了一定的速度
也会变成一团银光，没有什么能够阻挡
因飞驰而逐渐透明的恐惧和喜悦
可他依然在书中翻寻一个古老的咒语
只要找到它，一个春天的黑暗就会停顿下来
像是一个深夜驱车回家的人中途停下
倾听周围树木银色的呼吸，倾听突然辽阔起来的寂静
2025年3月27日中午 马永波
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, Amy Lowell,Williams, Ashbery and Rosanna Warren. 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, Masticadoresusa，Feed the Holy，Collaborature，European Poetry, Magique Publishing, Primelore, Verseum Literary, Area Felix，ONE, Sindhcourier，Lingo Lexicon，Worldinkers，Avantappalachia，Masticadorescanada，Madswirl，Allyourpoems，Homouniversalisgr，100subtextsmagazine，Pandemoniumjournal，Cultural Reverence，Rochford Street Review，Synchchaos，Ezra，Autumn Sky Poetry Daily，Nuthatchmag，Posit，Yumpu，Our Poetry Archive，Subliminal.surgery，Atunis，Insightmagazine，Lothlorien Poetry Journal，Acheron，Gorkogazette，A Too Powerful Word，Chiron Review，Gas，Chewers，Medusaskitchen，Beatnikcowboy，Dear O Deer!，The Wordsmith Literary E-Magazine , New Black Bart Poetry Society, Edge of Humanity，Liveencounters，Big Other etc.
Ma Yongbo is a poet of snow, shadows, and absences. His poems have committed the bodies of his parents and his elder brother to ceremonial flames, and explore, over and over, scenes from a long-lost childhood. “Break free from the cloud shadows in your heart,” he commands, while another poem admonishes, “nothing can hurt you,/ you are already dead.” He makes room for the uncanny, and seeks essence.(Rosanna Warren)
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、艾米·洛厄尔、威廉斯、阿什贝利和罗桑娜·沃伦的作品。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。
马永波是一位书写雪、影子与虚无的诗人。他的诗歌将父母与兄长的躯体献祭给仪式之火，反复探寻早已消逝的童年场景。他在诗中发出指令，“挣脱内心的片片云影”，而另一首诗却警示道：“没有什么能伤害你，/你已经死了。”他为诡谲留出空间，并探寻本质。（罗桑娜·沃伦）
Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨 is the English co-translator of Chinese poet Ma Yongbo 马永波, her official Chinese translator. She is a committee member of CB1 Poetry, the established monthly poetry reading event in central Cambridge UK, which has organised poetry readings for many years.
Her work has been translated into Chinese, Bangla, Greek, Vietnamese, Serbian, Korean, Arabic, Italian, Albanian, and Romanian.
Helen and Ma Yongbo are co-creators of the ongoing series of Response Poetry Volumes of the transnational dialogue featured in the ‘Ma Yongbo Poetry Road Trip – Summer Tour 2025’ published by International Times since 10th May 2025.
Helen has 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 The Mackinaw. Her eco-poetry appears in anthologies from Worple Press, Open Shutter Press, Fly on the Wall Press.
Her work is widely published in international journals such as International Times, Vox Populi, Ink Sweat and Tears, Aesthetica, Orbis, The Mackinaw, The Ekphrastic Review, Cambridge Poetry, The Fenland Reed, Poetry on the Lake, Sindh Courier, European Poetry, Verse Virtual, Magique Publishing, Primelore, DeshUSA, Verseum Literary, Stigmalogou, Area Felix, Cnpnews (South Korea), MasticadoresUSA, The Journal of Transnational Literature, The Wordsmith Literary E-Magazine, Alessandra Today Magazine, Nacional, The Daily Global Nation, Oceano News, Saturno Magazine. In Chinese translation by Ma Yongbo —New World Poetry , Literary World, Prose Poetry, Silver, Poetry Reference, Beidou International Poetry Forum,Wordy Seon, Poetry Appreciation.
海伦·普莱茨是中国诗人马永波诗歌的英文合作译者，CB1诗歌协会的委员会成员，这是英国剑桥市中心一项历史悠久的每月诗歌朗诵活动。海伦的作品已被译为汉语、孟加拉语、希腊语、越南语、塞尔维亚语、韩语、阿拉伯语、意大利语、阿尔巴尼亚语和罗马尼亚语。海伦与马永波共同创作了正在进行的“马永波诗歌之旅 – 2025 年夏季”系列档案，2025年5月10日起由《国际时报》发表。
普莱茨五度入选布里德波特诗歌奖短名单（2018、2019、2022、2023、2024），两度入选《里亚尔托》自然与地方诗歌奖长名单（2018、2022），一次入选银杏生态诗歌奖长名单（2019）、一次入选国家诗歌大赛长名单（2022），获广场散文诗大赛亚军（2022-23）并再度入选该奖项短名单（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两部早期诗集《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》和《麦基诺》杂志，生态诗歌见于“沃普尔”出版社、“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》《述画评论》《剑桥诗刊》《沼地芦苇》《湖上诗刊》《信德信使》《欧洲诗歌》《诗虚拟》《魔幻出版》《原始传说》《德胡萨》《诗界》《理念的圣痕》《菲利克斯领域》《韩国联合新闻网》《美国咀嚼者》《跨国文学》《文字匠》《今日亚历山德拉》《全球国家日报》等国际期刊。中文译本由马永波发表在《新大陆诗刊》《文学天地》《散文诗》《白银》《诗参考》《北斗国际诗坛》《文字禅》《诗歌风赏》等期刊。
南宋 佚名 倣馬遠 松陰玩月圖 冊頁, Viewing the Moon under a Pine Tree
Artist: After Ma Yuan (Chinese, active ca. 1190–1225), Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279),
Album leaf; ink and colour on silk
Dimensions: 10 x 10 in. (25.4 x 25.4 cm)
This painting, formerly attributed to the leading court artist Ma Yuan, repeats the motifs and brushwork for which Ma was famous. A scholar seated beneath a great pine tree holds a zither in his lap, while a young attendant dozes nearby. Although the work lacks the psychic energy of Ma Yuan’s paintings, the relaxed yet forceful round brushwork suggests the hand of an early and close follower of the master.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/36037
All images under individual copyright © to either Ma Yongbo 马永波 or Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨
.