mind over matter, matter over mind 215power, within a framework of modern Chinese poetry and beyond,
lies in meticulous and confident wording, in the balanced combination
of divergent registers and subject matter, and in the dramatic tension
between disrespect for inflated notions of poethood on the one hand,
and poetry’s miraculous survival on the other.
- Words Capturing Images, Images Capturing Words
Since «Salute», Xi Chuan has produced several other long poem se-
ries, including «Misfortune» (क़䖤, 1996) and «What the Eagle Says»
(呄ⱘ䆱䇁, 1998).^27 Both share with «Salute» an experimental, explor-
ative feel and the quality of indeterminacy in various dimensions of
the text, from typography to sound to linguistic register and so on.
There are interfaces between the three texts on the level of subject
matter, too. All are concerned with issues of identity, relations of self
and other, transformation and metamorphosis—and with images of
poetry and poethood.
Xi Chuan’s poetry is of the kind that stimulates the urge to interpret.
Giving in is easy, so to speak. Below, I give in once again, this time to
several passages from «What the Eagle Says». This leads toward some
thoughts on the limits of interpretation that are inspired by the surface
of his poetry rather than its “deep meaning,” and by the interaction of
these two levels of the poetic experience.
Some More Deep MeaningJust like «Salute», «What the Eagle Says» has eight constituent poems;
for an English translation of the full text, the reader is referred to the
Seneca Review xxxiii-2 (2003). Each poem’s stanzas are numbered, for a
total of ninety-nine in the entire series. The eight titles are worth joint
citation, as a nutshell characterization of Xi Chuan’s style in the late
1990s:
«One: Of Thinking, As Harmful As It Is Fearful»
«Two: Of Loneliness, That Is Desire Unsatisfied»
«Three: Of False Causality and Real Coincidence in the Dark Room»
«Four: Of Dreary Good and Contentious Evil»(^27) Xi Chuan 1997c: 175-198 and 1999b.