.
Image: The Rock of Doom, by Edward Burne-Jones, (1833-1898) Oil on canvas,
Staatsgallerie Stuttgart [Number 6 in the Perseus Cycle] illustrating the version of the
Perseus legend that appears in William Morris’s “The Doom of King Acrisius” from
The Earthly Paradise.
“Unexpectedly, our close working is interrupted by my illness, even our book is on hold,
but we navigate this with our Response poetry” Helen Pletts 12 August 2025
night without emptiness
不空之夜
the reaching light has tethered us,
in the knowing space weathering darkness.
A square screen blinking like a white oyster,
turning on the sea bed in her silver flecks.
Darkness has openings, the black and then visible sequence.
The phone has a timed orbit, your gaze is recorded,
in small font, time gathers her senses, opens our eyes
and sleepy heads to the large and once dark expanses of mystery,
if you are reading this then you exist
and for just a second we have reached
10th August 2025, written on waking in deep night after surgery
and re-reading messages on WhatsApp from Yongbo
Response Poetry By Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨
Response Poetry Translated by Ma Yongbo 马永波
不空之夜
night without emptiness
延展的光将我们拴在一起，
在洞悉一切的空间，抵御着黑暗。
一方屏幕闪烁如白色的牡蛎，
在海床上翻转，带着银亮的斑点。
黑暗也有开口，先是漆黑，然后是可见。
手机有定时的轨迹，你的目光被记录在册，
时光以细小的字体，凝聚起她的感知，
打开我们的双眼和昏沉的思绪，
朝向那广大而曾经漆黑的神秘之境，
如若你正读着这些文字，便证明你存在
而就在这一刻，我们已然抵达
2025 年8月10日，海伦·普莱茨，深夜术后醒来，重阅WhatsApp消息时所作
YouTube Link of bilingual recitation of ‘night without emptiness’,
English-Chinese reading by Yang Yujun & Ma Yongbo :
Image: Yang Yujun is a poet, novelist, and translator of twenty books; as well as a teacher of English. She resides in Taishan City, Guangdong, China. Her own translations from English to Chinese include books by the Australian authors Tim Sinclair and Henry Gunstone. Her collections of Chinese and English poems are: Garden in Winter and The Hand on the Mouse Is Turning Cold. Her Chinese-language novels include Henry and His Chinese Lovers, Two Jade Pendants, Seven Days in Lahsa, and Diary of a Female Assistant Professor.
Image: The Failure of Sir Gawaine: Sir Gawaine and Sir Uwaine at the Ruined Chapel, Number 4 of the Holy Grail tapestries woven by Morris & Co. 1891-94 for Stanmore Hall. This version woven by Morris & Co. for Lawrence Hodson of Compton Hall 1895-96. Wool and silk on cotton warp. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Burne-Jones
We Have Reached Many Distant Places——To Helen Who Is Ill
我们已经抵达过很多个远方——给病中的海伦
We have reached many distant places
a full eighteen months, clearly one more than the four seasons
a season not merely belonging to humans—spring water from glaciers
noisy brooks, tranquil lakes, and dark seas
but that fifth season uniquely ours—the boundless sky
Our clattering horse hooves have never stopped for a moment
in the folds of the horizon, there are always unfinished silhouettes
our armour is either covered with frost or condensed with night dew
we once stood on the peak of Mount Helicon
gazing at the vistas illuminated by lightning in an instant
Now, in a village so quiet that it appears to not be humanly created
We temporarily pull back the reins and remove all our equipment
dark spears, shields, greaves and pauldrons, and, of course, our heavy helmets
You can finally let your golden long hair flow freely
let our patient companions graze on yellow flowers, going to the darker forest
and we, overlooking the scattered lights in the valley, think of nothing
for we ourselves are both the messengers and the message
and one night, along with countless nights, will gradually become transparent
August 11, 2025
Response Poetry By Ma Yongbo 马永波
Response Poetry Translated By Ma Yongbo 马永波
Image: Gemälde, Edward Burne-Jones (English, 1833–1898)
我们已经抵达过很多个远方——给病中的海伦
We Have Reached Many Distant Places——To Helen Who Is Ill
我们已经抵达过很多个远方
整整十八个月，比四季还分明多出了一个
不仅仅属于人的季节——源自冰川的泉水，
喧闹的小溪，宁静的湖泊和黑暗的大海
而是那独独属于我们的第五季——无垠的天空
我们得得的马蹄从未曾有片刻的停歇
地平线的褶皱里永远藏着未完成的剪影
我们的铠甲不是结着冰霜，便是凝结着夜露
我们曾在赫利孔山巅眺望过闪电瞬间照亮的远景
如今，在一座安静得似乎非人工所建造的村庄
我们暂时勒住缰绳，卸下所有的装备
黝黑的长矛，盾牌，胫甲和肩甲，当然还有沉重的头盔
你终于可以披散开金色的长发
任我们耐心的伙伴啃食着黄花，去到更暗的林中
而我们，俯瞰着山谷下零星的灯火，一无所思
因为我们自己既是信使，也是信息
而一个夜晚，和无数个夜晚，将逐渐透明
2025 年8月11日，马永波
GAS Poetry Art and Music, Belinda Subraman interviews GAS Featured Poets: Ma Yongbo and Helen Pletts
https://gaspoertyartandmusic.blogspot.com/2025/08/gas-featured-poets-ma-yongbo-and-helen.html
Chinese version link：
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/xfrDfnUlcotixQcQESnycA
Image: Belinda Subraman
In 2020 Belinda Subraman began an online show called GAS: Poetry, Art and Music which features interviews, readings, performances and art show in a video format available free:BelindaSubraman . She also runs a GAS Facebook group and GAS literary journal: GAS literary journal Belinda was named State of Texas Beat Poet Laureate (2023-2025) by the National Beat Poet Foundation. Recent publications include Maintenance 19, New Generation Beats, The Orchards, Voices: Mysticism, Prophecies & Marigolds, Never Cowboy: Selected Works, Books include Blue Rooms, Black Holes, White Lights and Left Hand Dharma and Full Moon Midnight.
Belinda is also a mixed media artist. Her art has been featured in Beyond Words, Epoch, Flora Fiction, Unlikely Stories, Eclectica, North of Oxford, Raw Art Review, El Paso News, Litterateur RW, Setu, Texlandia, The Bayou Review, Red Fez, Chrysalis, Ghost City, Maintenant 16 and many others. In November 2022 she won 2nd Place in the Sun Bowl Exhibit, the longest running art show in the Southwest (since 1949). She also won Best of Show in 2024 at the Crossland Gallery’s show called Precious Things.
Image: Hope by Edward Burne-Jones
Hope
Edward Burne-Jones (English, 1833–1898) 1896
MEDIUM/TECHNIQUE
Oil on canvas
DIMENSIONS
179 x 63.5 cm (70 1/2 x 25 in.)
Hope, one of the three theological Virtues, is symbolised here as a prisoner chained indoors, holding a branch of apple blossoms and reaching upward to pull the blue sky down toward her. The slender, vertical format of this painting recalls the fact that many of Burne-Jones’s designs were successfully translated into stained-glass windows and textiles. Burne-Jones painted this work for Mrs. Whitin, of Whitinsville, Massachusetts. He had previously worked on a large watercolour version of the same subject.
All images under individual copyright © to either Ma Yongbo 马永波 or Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨, or Barbara Subraman