Ma Yongbo 马永波 & Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨, aka Bear and Kitten, standing together
for the first time after working together for nearly three years, in Helen Pletts’ garden in
Cambridge, 5th October 2026, Cambridge, UK, Planet Earth, The Universe.
Ma Yongbo 马永波 is a Guest Poet this October at the Cambridge Poetry Festival
https://www.cambridgepoetryfestival.org/events
Ma Yongbo 马永波 at Shanghai airport 4th October 2026, Shanghai, China, Planet Earth, The Universe,
waiting for his flight to the UK to stay with Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨 for one month.
“My flight is at 11:00, and I’ve already come in to wait for boarding. Chasing the sun, I’ll fly
for fifteen hours yet still arrive on the same day—October 4th—landing at London
Heathrow at 7:00 PM. If one flew fast enough, could one stay in the same day forever?
Helen sprained her leg while tidying up my room, yet she insisted on coming to pick me
up.” Ma Yongbo 马永波 , 4th October 2026, Shanghai, China, Planet Earth, The Universe
十一点的飞机，现在就进来候机了。追赶太阳的人，飞十五小时，依然在同一天，十月四
号，抵达伦敦希思罗是傍晚七点。如果飞的够快，是否永远停留在同一天？海伦为了收拾我
的房间扭伤了腿，可她还要坚持去接我。
He will teach a Chinese Poetry Workshop and they will launch their first bilingual poetry
book ‘Night-Shining White’ reading together, in person, for the first time at the Cambridge
Poetry Festival 2026 on the 10th October.
https://www.waterstones.com/book/night-shining-white/helen-pletts/ma-yongbo/9781066682812
Janet Lee’s film poem ‘House of Water’, incorporating the Chinese version spoken by Ma
Yongbo 马永波 will also by shown at the Cambridge Poetry Festival on the same night as
their book launch. Janet Lees is their close friend, whose photography joins their poetry in
‘Night-Shining White’.
Film Poetry Screening & International Poetry Readings
Ma Yongbo 马永波, photographed by Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨, standing in the Poetry
section at Heffers, Trinity Street, Cambridge, UK, Planet Earth, The Universe,
5th October 2026
how to lose a poet in Heffers—for Yongbo
如何在赫弗斯书店弄丢一位诗人——致永波
forget that poets are taller than books
but that the army of books has found its way onto a vast bookshelf
and is already vaster than a daytime starscape
obscured by the blue sky and Cambridge sun
collect two steps and prepare to comb through every page.
Follow every dark shining mass, until it is the black hair of a genius
standing in the second hand books
having taken time off the shelf
and handed it to an invisible bell boy
who is curating the latest draft of T.S.Eliot,
the pencil marks are so thin it squeals.
Wander through the level that used to be poetry
which is now self help and wonder
how to fix a gap in the warmth of where it was,
and take the stairs to the bottom of a hollow well
where the poets are thoughtful bricks
each descending below.
5th October, I take Yongbo to Heffers and lose him, and he is so preoccupied he does not even answer his phone
Response Poetry by Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨
Translated by Ma Yongbo 马永波
如何在赫弗斯书店弄丢一位诗人——致永波
how to lose a poet in Heffers—for Yongbo
忘掉诗人比书本更高大吧，
且看那书的千军万马，已在巨大的书架上寻得归宿，
其浩瀚，早已胜过白昼的星图，
哪怕被蔚蓝的天际与剑桥的骄阳所遮蔽。
且收拢两步，准备将每一页细细梳理。
循着每一团幽暗而闪光的轮廓，直到它化作一位天才的黑发，
他正伫立在二手书间，
从书架上夺取时间，
递给一位隐形的侍者，
那侍者正在整理艾略特的最新手稿，
铅笔的批注如此尖细，乃至微鸣。
漫步穿过曾经属于诗歌的那一层，
如今却是自助与励志的滥觞，
疑惑该如何填补那份温暖消逝后的空缺，
于是拾级而下，走向一口空井的井底，
在那里，诗人们化作沉思的砖石，
一层层，向着更深处沉降。
10月5日，我带永波去赫弗斯（Heffers）书店，却将他弄丢，他沉浸得太深，连电话也未曾接通。
Ma Yongbo 马永波, photographed by Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨, reading a book in the
Poetry section at Heffers, Trinity Street, Cambridge, UK, Planet Earth, The Universe, 5th
October 2026
At Heffers Bookshop in Cambridge
在剑桥赫弗斯书店
It is not that I am lost; it is merely an ancient bookshop,
I wander alone, passing through categorised shelves,
through worlds of different colours
and time of varying temperature,
seeking only what I know most intimately.
Those paperbacks, I can recognise at a glance:
are they Keats’s nightingale, or Tennyson’s aged eagle
squatting beside the sun?
are they Wordsworth’s wandering clouds and daffodils,
or Heaney’s bog archaeology?
or perhaps Yeats’s black tower and winding stair?
Once something becomes too abundant, it breeds a certain weariness,
so I stand for a long while before the towering shelves of poetry,
take two steps back, hands on my hips, gazing in helpless wonder
the familiar names on the spines make my neck ache,
I do not open them, they have all become Pandora’s boxes.
I can hear Helen speaking to the clerk not far away,
wondering what place our Night-Shining White might claim here,
and so, I walk deeper down the stairs,
for to go down is to go up, for blessed are the humble,
the Most High has long since ordained the destiny of all things.
Written at Helen’s residence in Cambridge at noon on October 7, 2026
Response Poetry by Written and Translated by Ma Yongbo 马永波
在剑桥赫弗斯书店
At Heffers Bookshop in Cambridge
哪里是迷失，不过是剑桥一家古老的书店
我独自漫游，穿过分门别类的书架
穿过不同颜色的世界和不同温度的时间
我在寻找我最熟悉的东西
那些廉价的平装本，我一眼就能认出
它们是济慈的夜莺，还是丁尼生
蹲在太阳边上的暮年的雄鹰
是华兹华斯的浮云和黄水仙
还是希尼的沼泽考古学
抑或是叶芝的黑塔和旋梯
一旦某种东西太多了，就会让人厌倦
于是，我长久站在满是诗集的巨大书架前
后退两步，叉着腰，无奈地打量着
书籍上熟悉的名字，它们让我的脖子
有些酸涩，我并不去打开它们
它们似乎全部成了潘多拉的盒子
我能听到海伦在不远处和店员说话
她在操心我们的《照夜白》
在这里将占有怎样一个位置
于是，我向楼下更深处走去
因为向下就是向上，因为谦卑的人有福了
至高者早已预定了万物的命运
2026年10月7日中午于剑桥海伦寓所
Ma Yongbo 马永波 sitting in Helen Plett’s 海伦·普莱茨 study in Cambridge,
8th October 2026, Cambridge, UK, Planet Earth, The Universe
Cold Dew 寒露诗
The turning point of all things’ bloom and decay, leaves turn in the air,
beginning to stain with variegated hues, the dew grows dense and chill.
Standing in the garden at night, our breath
takes shape, then swiftly scatters like white phantoms.
Gazing long at the profound, deep night sky, a silence
like the cellar of an ancient castle, ever sinking.
The night sky, a coarse sandpaper with grains protruding,
which constellation holds dominion no longer matters.
I long to hear the wild geese pass overhead,
emitting a rustling sound in the dark, as if
someone were truly using coarse sandpaper to grind
this immense, ancient tome of the universe.
Even the golden-haired assassin of the yellow daisy
has clenched its fists. All orders follow the stream,
autumn has truly deepened. The voices of family grow faint,
as if deliberately lowered, as if
some event, neither good nor bad, is about to unfold.
October 8, 2026, 6:00 AM, Cambridge
寒露诗 Cold Dew
万物荣枯的转折点，叶子在空中转身
开始染上斑斓，露水渐浓
夜晚站在花园里，我们的呼吸
渐渐显形，又迅速飘散的白色幽灵
久久仰望幽深的夜空，寂静
不断下沉的古老城堡的地窖
夜空粗糙的砂纸，颗粒凸起
是哪个星座在主宰，已不重要
我渴望听到大雁从头顶飞过
在黑暗中发出沙沙声，仿佛
有人真的在用粗砂纸打磨
宇宙这卷巨大无比的旧书
就连黄色雏菊的金发刺客
也同样攥紧了拳头。万序循流
秋天真的深了，亲人们的说话声变得微弱
仿佛故意压低了声音，仿佛
有什么难分好坏的事情就要发生
2026年10月8日晨六时于剑桥
Ma Yongbo 马永波 wearing a green coat given to him by Mike Bannister, Helen Plett’s
海伦·普莱茨 father because the weather has turned colder but unfortunately the coat is too
big and the cold air still gets in through the wide gaps, 8th October 2026, Cambridge, UK,
Planet Earth, The Universe
in the dew our forefather’s coat is frail like a woman’s voice singing—for
Yongbo 寒露中，祖辈的旧衣薄如女子的歌声——致永波
her notes appear as silver fractals on the grass,
the birth of a river in miniature,
or a tiny insect’s bath,
water now emerges from the dry earth
in the single drops of a thousand taps
and the blue sky is your hat
the only hat you will accept.
But the silver baths float insectless,
the english wind turns in your bones
sorts your frame, as if preparing for a spell
you are remade in her fingers,
and the coat of father mike is a green sail
the wind tries her best to remove it from you,
your bones singing frailty with a single ‘oh’,
all the time your hair is the darkest sound
the golden field has ever heard
beneath your dancing curls
your deep speech is the welcome bell
drowning men accidentally in a green sea
8th October 2026, 9:56, after a cold morning country walk with Yongbo, father Mike
has leant him a coat but it is too vacuous and he has to walk with it wrapped around
him and he is still too cold
Response Poetry by Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨
Translated by Ma Yongbo 马永波
寒露中，祖辈的旧衣薄如女子的歌声——致永波
in the dew our forefather’s coat is frail like a woman’s voice singing—for Yongbo
她的音符如银色分形现于草上，
那是微缩河流的初生，
或是微小飞虫的浴缸。
此刻，水从干涸的泥土中渗出，
化作千百个水龙头滴落的水珠，
而那蔚蓝的苍穹是你的帽子，
你唯一愿意接纳的帽子。
然而银色的浴缸没有昆虫浮荡；
英格兰的风旋入你的骨缝，
梳理你的身躯，仿佛在酝酿一道咒语。
你在她的指尖下被重塑，
迈克父亲的旧衣是一面绿帆。
风竭力要将它从你身上剥离；
你的骨骼伴着一声轻叹，吟出脆弱。
而你的发丝，始终都是那片金色田野
听过的最深沉的声响。
在你翻飞的卷发之下，
你沉缓的话语，是迎客的古钟，
在绿色海潮中，无意间将旅人淹没。
2026年10月8日，上午9时56分，作于与永波在清晨乡间散步之后。迈克父亲借给他一件外
套，但太过单薄，他只得紧紧裹着前行，依旧寒意难消。
Ma Yongbo 马永波 receiving a welcome gift, the poetry book ‘A Shropshire Lad’ by
A.E.Housman’, from Mike Bannister 迈克·班尼斯特, at his 90th birthday celebrations,
7th October 2026, Beccles, Suffolk, UK, Planet Earth, The Universe
“What a wonderful day it has been. Your work—all of it is most beautiful and excellent.
Thank you for letting me share. Meeting Ma Yongbo was such a joy. Soon xxxxxxxDad.
Thanks for a thrilling day. xxxDad” Text to Helen Pletts from Mike Bannister 迈克·班
尼斯特, evening, 7th October 2026, Beccles, Suffolk, UK, Planet Earth, The Universe
Dear Mike,
On your ninetieth birthday, we celebrate your long life and luminous poetry. A Fourth
Warming carries your gentle voice across the ocean. Your daughter Helen bridges our
worlds with verses, and this bond of poetry shall endure. May your days be filled with
peace, light and endless joy. Happy 90th Birthday!
Yongbo 永波
今天是海伦·普莱茨父亲、英国知名诗人迈克·班尼斯特九十大寿，
下午我们数人将携带双语新书《第四次温暖》
（迈克九十生辰纪念诗集手工限量版），
驱车两小时去看望这位备受尊敬的老诗人。
有点激动，结果醒的太早，翻来覆去，
还是以一首旧体诗为贺吧。今年写旧体诗比较多，
新诗有点不会写了[呲牙][呲牙]
Ma Yongbo 马永波 gifting Mike Bannister 迈克·班尼斯特 a painting on his 90th birthday celebrations,
7th October 2026, Beccles, Suffolk, UK, Planet Earth, The Universe
Ode for Mike Bannister’s Ninetieth Birthday
贺迈克·班尼斯特九秩寿辰
Nine decades of erudite British scholar, keeper of fine verse,
One volume preserves the fourfold glow of warmth.
Once your teaching grace nourished the countryside,
Long you have sent your quiet poems across ocean borders.
Your noble daughter carries poetry to forge far-reaching bonds,
Poets from distant lands exchange verses over vast seas.
Pine winds fill the hall to bless your lengthened years,
Your writings retain their fragrance through all seasons.
Composed at four in the morning, October 7, 2026
At Helen’s residence in Cambridge
Written and translated by Ma Yongbo 马永波
贺迈克·班尼斯特九秩寿辰
Ode for Mike Bannister’s Ninetieth Birthday
九秩英儒抱雅章，
一编留得四重光。
昔凭教泽滋桑野，
长把清吟寄海疆。
贤媛（有女）传诗联远契，
殊邦酬句越重洋。
松风满座添遐寿，
翰墨长存岁时芳。
2026年10月7日晨四时于剑桥海伦寓所
The cover of the bilingual poetry book ‘A Fourth Warming, Poetry of Tales and Memory
by Mike Bannister, Ma Yongbo and Helen Pletts’, published by Peter Newble of Orphean
Press, 7th October 2026 to commemorate Mike Bannister’s 90th Birthday
All images and poetry under individual copyright © to Ma Yongbo 马永波 and Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨 and Mike Bannister
.