mind over matter, matter over mind 219interpretation, at the same time, it actively resists any interpretation
that leads to semantic closure. How does this work?
«What the Eagle Says» frequently strikes an expository pose. It does
so through the deliberate, aestheticized repetition of sentence patterns,
a mechanism we find in «Salute» as well. From «Maxims»:
A book will change me, if I want to take it in; a girl will change me, if I want to
sing her praises; a road will change me, if I walk it to the end; a coin will change
me, if I want to own it. If I change someone else who lives beside me, I change
myself: my single conscience makes the both of us suffer, my single selfishness
makes the both of us blush.This mechanism occurs more frequently as Xi Chuan’s poetry devel-
ops through the 1990s, in texts such as the above-mentioned «Misfor-
tune» and especially in «What the Eagle Says».^28 We have seen several
examples, but there are more, such as this stanza from «On Loneli-
ness, That Is Desire Unsatisfied», which lays out nothing less than an
itinerary through life:
25/ Shall we not read the map? At sorrow lies the first crossroads, with a road
to song and a road to bewilderment; at bewilderment the second crossroads, with
a road to pleasure and a road to nothingness; at nothingness the third crossroads,
with a road to death and a road to insight; at insight the fourth crossroads, with
a road to madness and a road to silence.Intra-sentence and inter-sentence patterns such as these remind one
of ancient philosophical-literary texts from East and West, such as
Zhuangzi and Heraclitus, suitable for analogy and contrast, mirror
image and opposition; and they prompt the reader to engage in a cog-
nitive discourse with the text. And true enough, Xi Chuan’s poetry
has thought-provoking, serious things to say about thought-provoking,
serious subject matter such as that identified above—identity, self and
other and so on—and about the human condition. Crucially, howev-
er, upon closer inspection the semantics of his poetry often stray from
the rules of expository and other logics, celebrating ambiguity, para-
dox and indeed contradiction instead. Inasmuch as it is philosophi-
cally inclined, his poetry turns out to be pseudo-philosophy (Ӿᄺ),
in the author’s words—which, yet again, present a defensible descrip-
(^28) For Andrea Lingenfelter’s English translation of excerpts from «Misfortune»,
see Sentence 5 (2007).