Painting: Song Dynasty Landscape Painting – Ink & Brush, 宋 960 to 1279. Artist unknown.
Listening to the Water in the Mountains at Dawn 晨起山间听水 马永波
When the Goddess of Dawn takes a corner of her crimson headscarf
between her teeth, pacing back and forth on the horizon
the river, like a slender dark grey sash,
flashes and drifts among the trees from time to time
we go against the current, always keeping
a dense, dark, still thicket between us and the river
We talk now and then, fall silent at other times
letting the sound of flowing water rise and fall, never ceasing
we will never understand the stories the river tells
but we understand each other’s silence, like
dew drops rolling continuously down the ladder steps of leaf clusters
Yu Xuanji said that fish nests hide beneath the tangled roots of old willows
the small willow-root fish we fry to go with wine—
Could it be that it got its name from this? There’s no way to know
and the moon of yesterday, tied by the drooping branches,
has drifted through the embrace of how many mountains?
It’s no longer a question those who came ashore need to worry about
Downstream, the river is a spilled blue solvent
gluing heaven and earth into a closed oyster
layers of bright yellow, pale pink, and dark grey clouds
are its still-slowly wriggling flesh
Perhaps the small river understands our fragmented stories,
and mocks us with its silvery, ethereal flow
sending two startled wild ducks
clumsily flying toward their silent source in the mist
like our still-developing thoughts
August 29, 2025, Evening
Response Poetry by Ma Yongbo 马永波
Response Poetry Translated by Ma Yongbo 马永波
晨起山间听水 马永波 Listening to the Water in the Mountains at Dawn
当曙光女神把绯红的头巾一角
咬在嘴里，在天边来回踱步
河水像一条修长的暗灰色绶带
不时地在树丛间闪现，飘荡
我们逆流而上，与小河始终
隔着浓密的暗沉沉静止的树丛
我们时而说话，时而沉默
任流水声忽高忽低，始终不绝
河水讲的故事我们永远不懂
但我们懂得彼此的沉默，如同
一层层叶簇的梯级上连续滚落的露珠
鱼玄机说，老柳树纠结的根下藏着鱼窝
我们炸来下酒的小小的柳根子鱼
莫非便得名于此，已无从可考
而低垂的树枝系住的昨天的月亮
又荡过了几重山的怀抱
也不再是上岸者需要挂怀的问题
而在下游，河水是一片打翻的蓝色溶剂
将天地粘合成一个封闭的牡蛎
一层层亮黄、淡粉和暗灰色的云层
则是它还在缓慢蠕动的肉质
也许，小河听懂了我们断续的故事
于是用银光轻盈的流动嘲笑我们
让两只惊飞的野鸭子
笨拙地飞向云雾中寂静的源头
像是我们尚在发育的思想
2025年8月29日傍晚
Photograph: View from Cap Mountain, China
Photograph: Three poets visit Cap Mountain, Ma Yongbo 马永波, Yuanzheng 元正 and Aihui 爱辉
In early autumn, Ma Yongbo 马永波 travelled to Cap Mountain with his poet friends Yuanzheng and Aihui 爱辉.
Helen 海伦 responded with poetry in Cambridge.
Weixin Chinese link
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/xhIdtln3o413MYKnpW-VEw
YouTube footage of Ma Yongbo 马永波 on glass bridge at Cap Mountain here
https://youtube.com/shorts/6iLVHx6iCu8?si=8tDLtDeYoheUOKSl
the glass as aperture or poet as a mountain bird—for Yongbo
玻璃如孔径，诗人如山鸟｜海伦·普莱茨
WhatsApp footage of Yongbo smiling at 800 metres above sea level as he walks across a glass bridge at Cap Mountain
the glass as aperture, glossy with mist,
the peak has accessibility
and the glass bridge is set in nothing but faith,
the mechanics of birds are more reliable
in the arc of every thermal without floors,
yet the poet is smiling, his joy is the warm air current
his breath has scaled the rocky walls
and fastens in the dew.
The mountain hugs itself tightly,
the structures bring the tourists
inwards towards her ancientness,
and if there is a shortage of birds up here
then now there are enough poets
the poetess takes her father to hospital
beside the ambulance, doors swinging open
in the sudden rain there is a solitary female mallard,
her beak raised and swallowing rain.
The poetess is not weatherproof,
the poet writes that the mountain is cold,
two ducks have wandered into his river song
today the waterproof ducks inherit the world
29th August 2025
Response Poetry By Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨
Response Poetry Translated by Ma Yongbo 马永波
玻璃如孔径，诗人如山鸟｜海伦·普莱茨
the glass as aperture or poet as a mountain bird—for Yongbo
WhatsApp视频显示，永波在海拔八百米的山顶，微笑着走过帽儿山的玻璃桥
玻璃如孔径，雾气弥漫，
峰顶已经触目可及，
玻璃桥的建造只基于信念，
鸟类的力学原理更为可靠，
在没有地板的热气流弧线中，
而诗人却在微笑，他的喜悦是温暖的气流
他的呼吸攀爬过岩壁，
并凝结在露水中。
大山紧紧地拥抱着自己，
这些结构引领着游客
走向她内在的古老，
如果说这里缺少鸟类，
那么现在的诗人已经够多了
与此同时，女诗人带着父亲去医院
在救护车旁，车门砰然敞开
突如其来的雨，一只孤独的雌性绿头鸭，
扬起喙，吞咽着雨水。
女诗人并非风雨无阻，
诗人写道，山里很冷，
两只鸭子溜进了他的河歌，
如今，防水的鸭子继承了世界。
2025年8月29日
Painting: Detail from a hand-painted scroll of birds with flowers and foliage, circa 1781-1789, artist unknown.
Photograph: Helen Pletts, Cambridge, 31st May 2024
in the river’s silver voices
there are a thousand conversations
each voice has a small remaining silver note
and these notes have flooded the current.
In the white dawn they multiply as her silver harnesses
their flow, draws the signals from every light source,
spills the echos of everyone who stands here
and opens song
29th August 2025
Response Poetry By Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨
Response Poetry Translated by Ma Yongbo 马永波
在河水银色的声音中｜海伦·普莱茨
有千万种对话
每个声音都持续着一丝银色的音符
而这些音符已淹没了水流。
在洁白的黎明，它们繁衍增多，
她的银色驾驭着它们的流动，
汲取着来自每个光源的信号，
倾泻着每一个在此驻留
放声歌唱之人的回声
2025年8月29日
Views of Xiaoxiang by Dong Yuan (932–962). Dong is considered as one of the originators of landscape painting styles; the scales of such paintings were often huge, with minuscule yet intricate pastoralist subjects showing the relative enormity of the landscape. Zoom into the left to see a group of men engaging in seine-haul fishing.
Photograph: View from the glass bridge on Cap Mountain, China
Specific photographic images/graphic art under individual copyright © to either Ma Yongbo 马永波 or Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨
.