Image: Ma Yongbo at Panzhihua city, a beautiful mountain city in Sichuan Province,
with poet Zeng Meng, the Chief Editor of China Southern Art Website.
While he was staying there, Ma Yongbo wrote a poem for Zeng Meng :
A Single Sentence Can Determine More Than One Life — For Zeng Meng by Ma Yongbo
《一句话就能决定不止一个人——给曾蒙》 马永波
A single sentence, even a word, can decide life or death,
just like a drop of rain on a face
determines the season of expression.
I hear your voice from over twenty years ago
“We need to do something for him.”
Those long, dull years,
like a white cocoon illuminated by an oil lamp,
or yellowing paper covering a fine-grid wooden window
moistened by spring rain; gradually glowing brighter.
This morning, as I walked by the mountain, I long gazed at a hospital nearing completion.
You will work in that round hall for many years.
For many years, you will walk and meditate in these sparsely wooded
or green and lush mountains,
for many years, I will see this sunlit city of flowers,
I will speak to you through yellowing years.
Poetry is more than words, nor is disease a metaphor.
Your reward is more than words,
it is sunlight bathing endless green mountains.
“Thank you, brother. We need to do something for poetry.”
3rd May, 2025 morning, in Panzhihua
Response poetry by Ma Yongbo 马永波
Response poetry Translated by Ma Yongbo 马永波 and Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨 2025
《一句话就能决定不止一个人——给曾蒙》 马永波
A Single Sentence Can Determine More Than One Life — For Zeng Meng by Ma Yongbo
一句话，甚至一个词语，就能决定生死
就像面孔里的一滴雨水
决定了表情的季节
我听见你的声音从二十多年前传来
“我们要为他做点事情。”
那些漫长而沉闷的岁月
像是被油灯照亮的白色茧壳
或是被春雨湿润的细格木窗上
蒙着的泛黄的纸，逐渐亮了起来
今晨，我在山边散步，长久注视着一座即将竣工的医院
你会在那座圆厅里工作，很多年
很多年，你会在这些树木稀疏
或是绿色葱茏的山间行走，沉思
很多年，我会看到这座阳光花城
我会透过泛黄的岁月和你说话
诗不仅仅是词语，疾病也不是隐喻
你的回报也不仅仅是词语
而是阳光普照在无尽的青山
”谢谢你，兄弟，我们要为诗歌做点事情。”
20250503晨于攀枝花
Image: Ma Yongbo and Zeng Meng visiting Ma Yongbo’s brother
Image: Ma Yongbo visiting his brother
Helen Pletts wrote a poem for Ma Yongbo to celebrate his meeting with his brother:
in the spring everything—for Yongbo, on meeting his brother in his mountain home
春天里的一切——致永波，于山居访其兄弟有感
I am everything, there is no view from the small
receding core of withering; seeds are experiencing one way
journeys and may stay fully blown. Even the sun is calculated to be
higher, and warm mist is a settled brother on the mountainside;
his smiles harmoniously hover over ancient stone
2nd May 2025
Response Poetry By Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨
Response Poetry Translated by Ma Yongbo 马永波
春天里的一切——致永波，于山居访其兄弟有感
in the spring everything—for Yongbo, on meeting his brother in his mountain home
我即万物，从渺小萎缩的核心处
再无眺望的余地；种子正在经历单程旅途，
或许会永远盛放。就连太阳也被算准
要升得更高，暖雾是山腰上沉稳的兄弟；
他的微笑和谐地悬于古石之上
2025年5月2日
海伦·普莱茨 作
Chinese publication here:
https://www.meipian.cn/5cxfiqv8?first_share_to=copy_link&share_depth=1&first_share_uid=16949541
Images 1 and 2 Ma Yongbo toasting national poets at an event at China’s greatest poetry school in Chengdu, where he was invited, May 2025
Poet Meng Yuan from Chengdu was in charge of reception, and the accommodation was at a hotel near the original Du Fu Thatched Cottage. Here is the list of attendees for the three-day gathering, with many poets planning to meet and have drinks with Ma Yongbo:
April 4th: Poets having dinner together: Yutian, Wang Xuedong, Gong Gaixiong, Meng Yuan, Xie Changyong.
April 5th: Meeting with reciters.
April 6th: Dinner attendees: Xiang Yixian, Wang Li, Zhang Weidong, Humma, Yuyan, Hu Renze,
Accompanying visits to Du Fu Thatched Cottage, Kuanzhai Alleys, Jinli, and Baiye (a famous bar).
Below are other poet friends Ma Yongbo met:
Zhi Fu, Ya Shi, Liang Ping, Tu Ao, Zhang Xuanhong, Nie Zuoping, Shang Zhongmin, Li Yang, Yang Tianqing, Jie Chen, Chen Zihong, Chen Xiaofan, Jiang Lan.
Chengdu Commercial Press: Wang Yuxi
Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House: Lu Song
Images: Du Fu’s thatched cottage
All images copyright © poet Ma Yongbo
Ma Yongbo 马永波 was born in 1964.
https://mayongbopoetry.wordpress.com/
Since the age of 27 he has published 7 poetry collections: Red Bird (Hong Kong Wen Guang Publishing House, 1991), Summer Played at Two Speeds (Tangshan Publishing House, Taiwan, 1999), Journey in Words (Huacheng Publishing House, 2015),Geography of the Self (Zhejiang Gongshang University Press, 2018),Untied Boat (China International Broadcasting Press, 2024),A Grateful Ode to Eternity (Long poetry collection, Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House, 2024). He is a Chinese scholar 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 half a million copies. He teaches at Nanjing University of Science and Technology. The Collected Poems of Ma Yongbo (four volumes, Eastern Publishing Centre, 2024) comprising 1600 poems, celebrate 40 years of writing poetry.
马永波出生于1964年。自27岁起，他已出版了7本诗集：《红鸟》（香港文光出版社，1991年）、《以两种速度播放的夏天》（台湾唐山出版社，1999年）、《词语中的旅行》（花城出版社，2015年）、《自我的地理学》（浙江工商大学出版社，2018年）、《不系之舟》（中国国际广播出版社，2024年）、《致永恒的答谢词》（长诗集，四川文艺出版社，2024年）。他是一位专注于翻译和教授英美诗歌和散文的中国学者，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50万册。他在南京理工大学任教。《马永波诗歌总集》（四卷本，东方出版中心，2024年）共收录1600首诗，庆祝他诗学探索40周年。
Helen Pletts: (www.helenpletts.com) Shortlisted 5 times for Bridport Poetry Prize 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024, twice longlisted for The Rialto Nature & Place 2018 and 2022, longlisted for the Ginkgo Prize 2019, longlisted for The National Poetry Competition 2022. 2nd prize Plaza Prose Poetry 2022-23. Shortlisted Plaza Prose Poetry 2023-24. Working closely with Ma Yongbo since Feb 2024.
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