PREAMBLE
‘The Superior Man has nothing to compete for. But if he must compete, he does it in an archery match…’ Thus spake Confucius, a couple of thousand years before the Poetry World Cup began. This is no archery match, of course, but Confucius would perhaps be pleased to see two poems with a strong Chinese influence engaging in the noblest possible (?) form of competition today.
Changming Yuan is the Chinese representative in this year’s tournament. His poetry has appeared in more than 600 journals across 25 countries, making him one of the most widely-published poets of all-time. He grew up in an impoverished village in central southern China, started to learn the English alphabet at the age of 19 in Shanghai, and eventually moved to Canada as an international student. Now based in Vancouver, he edits Poetry Pacific with his son, Allen Qing Yuan.
Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé represents Singapore, but the title of his prose poem is derived from a Chinese idiom. The recipient of the PEN American Center Shorts Prize, Swale Life Poetry Prize and Cyclamens & Swords Poetry Prize, among other awards, he also has a theology masters (world religions) from Harvard and fine arts masters (creative writing) from Notre Dame. His work spans various genres —ethnography, journalism, poetry, and creative nonfiction: ‘I’ve come to realise,’ he says, ‘that… I was meant to work across artistic media. The hats are all funky to wear, and life is a grand party.’
               
You love ‘Y’, not because it’s the first letter ~ Changming Yuan gÇŽn qÃng yòng shì :: impulsive and impetuous “It was game season, and there was blood and lust in their eyes. It was no different from Rome in the old days. Gladiators, lions, slaves, the ringmaster, thrust in a ring together. No different. No different at all.†In the next hour, Geronimo practically talks to himself, gives himself a lesson in violence as spectacle. “What are the forces of tradition? How do they bear down on these peoples? We are in their debt really. We don’t get to see this kind of steadfastness in the city. Such an unwavering belief in what should be done, what needs to be done, and how it should all be done… ~ Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé RESULT: Singapore won by 48 votes.
In your family name, but because it’s like
A pair of horns, which the water buffalo in your
Native village uses to fight against injustice
Or, because it’s like a twig, where a crow
Can come down to perch, a cicada can sing
Towards the setting sun as loud as it wants to
More important, it’s like a real reed deeply rooted
At the bank of the Nile, something you can bend
Into a whistle or hit a drum with; in pronouncing it
You can get all the answers you need…
