⿊⻰抬头 ——致永波，携家共度惊蛰 ⻢永波 译
you are slithering with tucked in black scales, through the bare wood sticks
of the brown hedge. Your sideways eye, waking on the edge of brown,
on the grown green buds, slowly shaking open;
white paper petals misted with warm dragon’s breath.
Your Jingzhe table is dusted in yellow flower croaker
in a bone white dish; falling fish flesh from a clean white spine.
You are spring gorging and winter’s lament is pale and wallowing
by Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨
1 March 2025
Read by Helen Pletts
Read by Ma Yongbo
.
Translated by Ma Yongbo ⻢永波 1st March 2025
⿊⻰抬头
——致永波，携家共度惊蛰 ⻢永波 译
black dragon raising his head
—for Yongbo—ha ha—celebrating Jingzhe Day with his family
你裹着⿊⾊鳞⽚，在褐⾊树篱
光秃秃的树枝间蜿蜒游⼷。
你侧⽬的眼神，在棕⾊边缘醒来
在新⽣的绿芽上，慢慢摇开；
⽩纸花瓣上氤氲着和煦的⻰息。
你的惊蛰宴摆着⻩花⻥
盛于⻣⽩瓷盘；⻥⾁
从⼲净的⽩⾊脊⻣剥落。
你⼤快朵颐，饕餮着春意
⽽冬⽇的挽歌苍⽩，在泥泞中翻腾
2025年3⽉1⽇
Dragon Raising its Head, or Awakening of Worms
—response to Helen
⻰抬头或惊蛰
——回赠海伦 ⻢永波
Thunder grows joints underground, itself
a burrowed worm in frozen soil—
No other giant earthworm crawls through storm clouds,
electric flesh electrifying the world
to rouse countless little claws below,
clumsily, awkwardly
rubbing foreheads in pairs,
like a swarm of petty bureaucrats
clapping their black gauze hats in celebration.
Only the brown rainwater in the village mortar
feels the stirrings beneath the earth,
smiling with rippling creases—
Yet within the ancestral hall, still cold and dim,
the dragon coils lazily into spirals of incense smoke
rising toward the peeling, red-painted rafters.
1st March, 2025
⻰抬头或惊蛰
——回赠海伦 ⻢永波
Dragon Raising its Head, or Awakening of Worms
—response to Helen
雷声在⼟⾥⻓出关节，雷声⾃⼰
就是蛰伏在冻⼟⾥的⾍⼦
并没有另⼀条巨⼤的⻓⾍
从天空的乱云中，以带电的⾁体
去惊醒⼟⾥⽆数的⼩⽖⽛
让它们蠢蠢欲动，笨拙地
⼀对⼉⼀对⼉互相摩擦额⻆
仿佛⼀群⼩官僚在弹冠相庆
⼟⾥的动静只有祠堂前
⽯⾅⾥褐⾊的⾬⽔能够感受得到
并泛起微笑的涟漪，⽽祠堂⾥
依旧寒冷⽽阴暗，⻰在⾹案上
慵懒地盘成熏⾹缭绕的烟雾
向油漆起泡的红⾊房梁升腾
2025年3⽉1⽇
Read by Ma Yongbo
Read by Helen Pletts
“ha ha ha, we jokingly refer to Yongbo ⻢永波 as black dragon 🖤 🐲 “
“哈哈哈，我们开玩笑地称⻢永波为⿊⻰🖤 🐲 ”
Helen Pletts, talking about their friendship journey in translation and response poetry, 1st March
2025
海伦·普莱茨在翻译和回应诗中讲述他们的友谊之旅，2025 年 3 ⽉ 1 ⽇
“My wife’s eldest sister has come to my house, and the four of us are going to have dinner together.
The two women made dumplings with chives and eggs, ice shrimp, yellow flower croaker, pork
head, and small water radish. Today is Jingzhe Day, one of the 24 solar terms in China, commonly
known as the Dragon Raising its Head, and spring is coming!”
Ma Yongbo 1st March 2025, Harbin
哈哈哈，我们开玩笑地称永波为⿊⻰，
”我内姊来家，我们四⼈要共进晚餐。两位⼥⼠包了⾲菜鸡蛋饺⼦，备有冰虾、⻩花⻥、猪
头⾁和⼩⽔萝⼘。今天是中国24个节⽓之⼀的惊蛰，俗称⻰抬头，春天来了！”⻢永波2025
年3⽉1⽇，哈尔滨）
Photograph: Ma family, Jingzhe 惊蛰 feast, taken by Ma Yongbo
.