The Poet (Gu cheng bielian)

october8, 1993 -waiheki lsland, New zealand

once,youwere happyto pass by clapping yourhands

walking across the grass leaves burstforth from the trees

words springfrom yourlips leaves

you linger,the machine starts rushingforth,

plunging into the smoke seen from afarit`s abucketupside down

dee! so many delicate fsh

deedaledee! dancing in the air

deedaledee!

carryingthe trees into the sky dee!

Sam, papa`s come to see you

Sam, l`m yourpapa, come here

lwantto talk to you

yourmom wants to take you awayfrom me

Sam, l`m yourpapa

come here

Sam, Sam, come here

lwantto talk to you

what`s he talking about?

He says he wantto talk to you

Sam, come here, Sam, come here

Sam, do you hearme?

l`m yourpapa!

Reimi,you can`ttake him away!

come here, l`m yourpapa!

Sam, come here

listen to yourpapa!

Hang on! Somebodymusthave legal custody

well,that`s justit.we don`treallyknow

Sam has been with the Petersons forthe lasttwo years

How come?

mr. and mrs. Guwent offto Europe

Theyleft Sam with the Petersons

As faras the school is concerned

They are his legal guardians

Theywarned us...

Something like this mighthappen

They saidthe mothermighttake him too

Now come on, settle down! Stop!

The boy`s goingto have to stay at school

we`re goingto have to get alawyer to see who gets custody, ok?

Uncle, he says Sam is staying here

Sam is my son

you can`t splitus up! Sam!

come back!

Sam

Nowtake yourhands off!.

Now stop this bullshit

orl`m gonnahave to take you in, ok?

Arrest! ok,you understand?

lfyou don`tleave

the police will putyou in jail

Arrest! Understand? lt`s up to you!

lt`s up to you!

Afathercan neverbe separated from his son

lt`s time to go back to class now

come on, come on, Larry, back to school now

come on! Everyone back to school

Afathershould neverbe humiliated

in front ofhis son

1966`s BElJlNG

Find allthe black material, black poems

black paintings, andthe fourolds!

come on! Hurry up! Destroythem all,

everyone ofthem!

Down with the counter-revolutionary Gu Gong

Down with the counter-revolutionary Gu Gong

Gu Gong must surrender orhe`ll be destroyed

Gu Gong must surrender orhe`ll be destroyed

Gu Gong,tellthe truth!!

Look in allthe cupboards!

All counter-revolutionaryblack books mustbe destroyed!

Findthem and burn them all!

we`ll defend

chairman mao`s revolutionaryroad with real action

Hurry up! Gu Gong, letme tellyou

vou are... aflthy counter-revolutionary

vou`ll be damnedforever!

we`ll defend chairman mao with ourlives

Gu Gong mustbe struggled

counter-revolutionaries are bad elements

we mustbe vigilant at alltimes

we mustnotrelent!

vouwrite black poems

so this is ablack pen, burn it!

Down with Gu Gong!

Little Red Guards take Gu Gong outside and parade him on the streets!

move...

Don`ttake my papa away! Papa!

Down with Gu Gong! Down with Gu Gong...

Don`tlet anyone see this, putit away

NExT vEAR(1967) SHANDoNG, cHlNA

Little eunuch, my dearoldfella

come here, let`s see ifyou`re healedyet

That old soldier`s...

quite skillful at castration

Letthe waterfall oflight dye my skin black

The sun bakes the earth

like toasting apiece ofbread

The sun is myrope-puller

its ripe of strong light

pulls me everyday to the end ofmy journey

Son,you mustn`tuse the word Sun randomly

we`llwrite poems together,

we`ll be togetherforever, right?

Here you must studyhard!

ocToBER8, 1993wAlHEKl lSD. NEwzEALAND

Sis,theywon`tletme see my own son!

lt`s because they can`tunderstandyou

Sis,you can teach me English

Then l can talk to my son

and l can look afterhim

lfyouwere serious,

you could have learned it

lfyou`d learned English,

this wouldn`thave happened

Reimi said she`dteach me howto drive, l`ll go see her!

Hello, mr. Gu. How are youtoday?

Reimi, mywife, l`m lookingforReimi

she promisedto teach me to drive

vou`ll have to slow down, dear,

l can`tunderstand a wordyou say

Reimi...she... she promisedto teach me to drive

Reimi. vou`re lookingforyourwife?

ls this the place?

136. ls this aheater? ves

lt`s so differentfrom china`s

lt`s beautiful!

Look, ourbedroom!

1979`s cHlNA

cigarettes! cigarettes forsale!

vou drewmany sketches

whythrowthem away?

vou`re difficultto draw, the drawing doesn`t do you justice

can we talk aboutyourpast?

what`s this? Ablack-outin a train station?

my pastis like this

an unforeseeable darkness

Dark nights, long dark nights!

vourpastis alittle similarto mine

maybe

this is the common past shared by ourgeneration

the dark nighthas given me dark eyes

yetl use them to search forlight

vou`re apoet, and some kind of aphilosopher

l`ve nevermet anyone like you

So nowyou have

is thatlucky? orunlucky?

of course it`s lucky!

maybe...it`s my goodfortune forlife

Attention, all passengers and comrades

The No.65 express train from Beijingto Shanghai

will arrive soon

That`s mytrain

Here`s my address,

drop bywhen you`re in Beijing

vou`ve no civic consciousness!

vou just drop yourrubbish anywhere

whatwould happen if every chinese was like you?

The whole country would be covered in litter!

Here`s allyourrubbish,take it!

Don`tpush, collectyourthings and go to the exit

vou said gazing atme you`re faraway

Butnowl`m verynear!

vou`re near when you`re watchingthe cloud,

butl`m not a cloud

l`m cheng,which means a castle

Acastle can be touched

But clouds...

nobody can touch clouds!

vou`re nottouched by acloud,

you`re surrounded by a castle

willthere be a day

when you stop gazing atme?

Gaze atme,forever...

not sometimes atme, sometimes the cloud

Forever...l`ll look atyouforever

modern poetry...

is more suitable forexpressing rich texture

andforexpressing...

the molten depths atthe center of one`s thoughts

And nowwe have a crisp butmodesttheory

There`re onlytwo words to describe modern poetry...

don`tunderstand

Butwhat don`tyou understand?

ls itthe rare passing ofthe light from the meterorites?

orthe chemical structure ofthe meterorites?

Nan, is Gu cheng in?

ves, he`s having aheated discussion with the old school

Look atyou,you`re soakedthrough!

vou`d betterchange before you go in

l`ve got dry clothes foryou

mrGu, l hope you can give a seminar...

in ourcountry

Aseminar? Really?

To talk aboutwhat? mistyPoems?

These poems are like a drug

to many young people

The so-called sub-conscious

andthe molten depths atthe centerof one`s thoughts