A Forest of Names (May) by Ian Boyden
在整个2018年，澳门金沙娱乐城app承诺每个月出版伊恩·博伊登（Ian Boyden）手稿《名字的森林》（a Forest of Names）中的诗歌选集。 在一年的时间里，博伊登翻译了在2008年四川地震中遇难的5196名学生的名字。 He then began a collection of poems, each written on the day of each child’s birth. An in-depth discussion of these poems can be read in “Fault Line: An Introduction to A Forest of Names.” —Eds.]
Detail of the Tycho lunar crater. Photo courtesy of Nasa.
MAY 2
明旋
Sun-Moon Encircling
Illumined by spinning bodies,
our mind a blossom of gravity,
and gravity itself.
1300 years before him,
and on the same ground,
a child was born as still
as the dammed water of a deep river.
He poured from the Tibetan plateau.
pooled before the weir,
pooled to become a mirror.
One cannot polish water’s surface,
and his teachings returned to the sea,
pouring into his final words:
Sun-faced Buddha, Moon-faced Buddha.
He plunged a stick into ash
on the slopes of Stone Gate Mountain—
long, short, neither long nor short.
Without speaking of long or short,
the only answer to a line
is to draw another line.
MAY 5
凡
Ordinary
Yet astonishing. Each of us.
Sails tracking winds,
ancient as the most distant point of light.
MAY 6
恆
Fixed
Moon-white heart of the sky.
What holds you in one place?
The oar at one with the drum.
MAY 7
文林
Literary Forest
Where the full moon once cast shadows of woven branches,
the new moon looks upon barren ground.
MAY 9
雪龍
Snow Dragon
Latticed hand of cloud, she melts in shifting earth.
But look! There, where mountain cuts the sky.
MAY 12 (the anniversary of the earthquake)
雷霆
Skyquake
The rain falls
upon the field
and the imperial court—
it falls impartially.
The field blooms with gratitude.
In the halls of white marble,
the men erase
the scent of soil.
MAY 16
荇煬
Molten Floatingheart
To cure heartache, one needed only to sit
by her bank and gaze at the floating stars.
MAY 20
培
Banked with Earth
Where continuity consists of brokenness,
we plant the seeds of forget-me-nots.
MAY 21
月新
Made New by the Moon
She came with her chisels and carved,
month after month, until the tree
was a 1,000 feet of moonlight.
MAY 22
清葉
Distinct Leaf
It’s not that the leaf was different or the tree unusual.
She was simply given an invitation
that her name could change as she grew into it:
Quiet Leafing,
Pure Harmony,
Clear Rhyme.
Her choice, her distinction.
MAY 23
秀頻
Perennial Inflorescence
Walk the wild meadows of late May.
With the slightest wind, her name sweeps the sky.
MAY 25
連燚
Continuous Fierce Fire
By foot, by cart… no shelter in a field of white chrysanthemums.
Read more from Ian Boyden’s “A Forest of Names” in the following links:
“Introduction to ‘A Forest of Names'”
A Forest of Names — January selections
A Forest of Names — February selections
A Forest of Names — March selections
A Forest of Names — April selections
A Forest of Names — June selections
A Forest of Names — July selections
A Forest of Names — August selections
A Forest of Names — September selections
A Forest of Names — October selections
A Forest of Names — November selections
