Nainai:
4 lines of 7 words
- had an October birthday
- pouring wine indicates birthday-related feasting akin to our eating cake
- 'flowers atop mountain' symbolizes 'blessing upon blessing'
Celebrating each other's birthdays with my nephew
My nephew's wife has an October birthday.
Seventy years almost eighty from one family
Celebrate pour wine this time of year
Golden anniversary almost here children grandchildren sing
Tenth month another party flowers atop mountain
Gonggong:
12 lines of 5 words, followed by 2 lines of 3 words, and finally 1 line of 9 words.
- from a new (for us) section in his volume Chapter 2: Southern Provinces about the time of Japanese invasion. He was sent to these Southern Provinces to work, his wife and children stayed in Shanghai. He traveled around these areas. Because of the war, life was difficult. Only when he had some leisure time, he wrote poems to pass the time and entertain himself. He collected fifty poems from this time. (Personal note is that my gonggong had mentioned this fact, that there are fifty poems in each section, in his earlier introduction. I find it funny that he states it again.)
- "Dragon snake" my mom and I infer is Pros and Cons
- blue sea symbolizes all the changes of life
Pretty Water
The name of a place where I ran into my friend Huang Min, an old classmate from my studies in Tokyo. He similarly worked in finance. I wrote this poem for him and sent it to him.
Longtime friend three years since
Not changed old appearance looks
Defending justice eyes almost burst
Order some cups of tea
Writing papers heart so suffering*
Detailed discussion how to prosper
Create develop Three Three System
Profit giving small farm homes
People things written 10,000 thoughts**
Revisions below pen dragon snake
Editing poems to old maids***
Eradicating this not so extreme
Blue sea doings
Tell not fully
Made me feel so sad depressed stop travel car
*Huang Min wrote many books on finance about this area full of poor peasants.
**Many people wrote papers on this area before. Huang Min revised these documents.
***These people were so poor, they had a custom of renting wives because they could not afford dowry. Indicating how pathetic and horrible their lives were. Huang Min wanted to eradicate this custom.
(Finally got my mom to give me a Basic Poetry Lesson as there are several kinds, even more than this list, which I wrote in pinyin to help me when having Chinespañol--half hour Mandarin, half hour Spanish--chats with my South Seattle friends:
Shi1 - form poem 4 lines or 8 lines, or more of 5 words or 7 words
Ci2 - structured poem, like having a song and replacing lyrics
Ge1 - song
Fu4 - song)
Monday, May 21, 2012
Monday, May 14, 2012
Perfumed departures
This week's theme was a little less obvious but still apparent.
Nainai's quadruplet of 4 lines of 7 words
- Ching refers to the cruelest emperor in China's history
- She also references a song written by "some good and faithful person in some dynasty" (mom quote) that says 'From antiquity til now, no one has not died. I would rather leave (as a legacy) my pure heart to illuminate history.'
Condolences for Tian An Men Incident
Innocent hot blood shed at Heavenly Peace
Ladder climbers lazy incompetent but cruel violent
Bright smart young ones got devastatingly murdered
Followers rising up stem tidal wave destruction
Hard working diligent study-ers so innocent pure
Kids appealing to corrupt officials seeking freedom
Nobody expected their Ching-like aggressive power
How many Pa Ma blood tears wept
Since antiquity good faithful always savagely sentenced
Dead ones left good name illuminate history
Years later come here remember this day
Touch headstones tears shed a mourning memorial
Righteous souls faithful brave ascend sky hall
Forfeit need to suffer in this world
Heaven's gates open welcome those faithful trustworthy
Sweet smells thousand years will leave fragrance
Gonggong's 8 lines of 7 words
- red powder symbolizes a young woman, in reference to make up
- blue robe symbolizes a man, because in ancient times men wore long blue robes
- Waitan is a location just outside Shanghai
- Di Qing is my grandmother
Once more across the East Sea, early morning at Huangpu river
In Shanghai, I got engaged to Di Qing. Because I needed to finish my studies in business school, I had to return to Japan. Before I departed, I wrote this poem to describe how I felt at that time.
Over Huangpu river the morning mist hovers
Sadness distracts heart from doing tasks moving
Red powder's fragrance a cloud that lingers
Blue robe's departing tears water long flow
One shoulder carries luggage thousand waves wakes
Ten-thousand spots sparkle glint two white gulls
At Waitan fear to turn look back
My lovely lady there in high rise
There weren't many tall buildings in Shanghai, but the bank where Di Qing worked was the tallest building then.
Nainai's quadruplet of 4 lines of 7 words
- Ching refers to the cruelest emperor in China's history
- She also references a song written by "some good and faithful person in some dynasty" (mom quote) that says 'From antiquity til now, no one has not died. I would rather leave (as a legacy) my pure heart to illuminate history.'
Condolences for Tian An Men Incident
Innocent hot blood shed at Heavenly Peace
Ladder climbers lazy incompetent but cruel violent
Bright smart young ones got devastatingly murdered
Followers rising up stem tidal wave destruction
Hard working diligent study-ers so innocent pure
Kids appealing to corrupt officials seeking freedom
Nobody expected their Ching-like aggressive power
How many Pa Ma blood tears wept
Since antiquity good faithful always savagely sentenced
Dead ones left good name illuminate history
Years later come here remember this day
Touch headstones tears shed a mourning memorial
Righteous souls faithful brave ascend sky hall
Forfeit need to suffer in this world
Heaven's gates open welcome those faithful trustworthy
Sweet smells thousand years will leave fragrance
Gonggong's 8 lines of 7 words
- red powder symbolizes a young woman, in reference to make up
- blue robe symbolizes a man, because in ancient times men wore long blue robes
- Waitan is a location just outside Shanghai
- Di Qing is my grandmother
Once more across the East Sea, early morning at Huangpu river
In Shanghai, I got engaged to Di Qing. Because I needed to finish my studies in business school, I had to return to Japan. Before I departed, I wrote this poem to describe how I felt at that time.
Over Huangpu river the morning mist hovers
Sadness distracts heart from doing tasks moving
Red powder's fragrance a cloud that lingers
Blue robe's departing tears water long flow
One shoulder carries luggage thousand waves wakes
Ten-thousand spots sparkle glint two white gulls
At Waitan fear to turn look back
My lovely lady there in high rise
There weren't many tall buildings in Shanghai, but the bank where Di Qing worked was the tallest building then.
Post-grads
[Mildly frustrated because, since my parents' computer is on the fritz, I just posted my draft to blogger an was going to edit it at home. Normally I save it on a word doc and email it to myself. Don't know what I did but the text was deleted. I'm composing this from memory. Can't remember the rest of Nainai's poem so I'll update this post later]
Third week in a row where a theme has emerged. My mom reads the next poem in my grandmother's book and selects one from my grandfather's book and voila there happens to be a theme. None so obvious as this week's. But very funny the opposing evaluations of the worth of these degrees.
Nainai's 4 lines of 5 words:
- Though my last name in American English is Yung, phonetically it's Rong in pinyin--like "row" with an "ng". A small family name in Chinese, far from the big family names like Wang or Chen or Lee.
- Jing is my dad. I know last week I told you Suen was my dad. Jing is his given name whereas Suen is his ordinal name. Ask me if you're still confused. Plus then I'll know you're reading.
House of Rong Sings Praises
Blessing Wealth Long-life Honor
Son Jing got his PhD and I am so glad. I know his father is smiling down from heaven.
Against doorframe wishing your return
Quick quick return talk else
Day day family joy incomplete
Someday remembrance difficult old house
Gonggong's 8 lines of 5 words
- Wusong is the name of the port at the mouth of the Yangze river, the entry to Shanghai
- The Yangze, also known as Changjiang, is not to be confused with Huanghe (Yellow River) but is yellow from silt just the same.
- In the last line of the poem, he quotes a phrase from a classic poem to mean he's been everywhere and seen a lot of things.
- in the description--which I saw tonight comes after the poem, he uses the phrase 'closer to home anxiety grows' that is from a classical poet who talked about the paradoxical emotions one experiences when returning home after a long time. I know that feeling.
Seeing Wusong
Wusong waters turn to yellow
Riverbank trees like my hometown
Shanghai is around the bend
I lived there once briefly
Felt lonely across East Sea
People say I've done much
Inside is empty and vain
What did you bring back?
Gone down sky-breadth roads
After graduating from business school in Tokyo, I took a boat back home. The closer I got to home, the more anxiety I felt. I wanted to write a poem to express my feelings, unfortunately this poem still doesn't fully portray them.
Third week in a row where a theme has emerged. My mom reads the next poem in my grandmother's book and selects one from my grandfather's book and voila there happens to be a theme. None so obvious as this week's. But very funny the opposing evaluations of the worth of these degrees.
Nainai's 4 lines of 5 words:
- Though my last name in American English is Yung, phonetically it's Rong in pinyin--like "row" with an "ng". A small family name in Chinese, far from the big family names like Wang or Chen or Lee.
- Jing is my dad. I know last week I told you Suen was my dad. Jing is his given name whereas Suen is his ordinal name. Ask me if you're still confused. Plus then I'll know you're reading.
House of Rong Sings Praises
Blessing Wealth Long-life Honor
Son Jing got his PhD and I am so glad. I know his father is smiling down from heaven.
Against doorframe wishing your return
Quick quick return talk else
Day day family joy incomplete
Someday remembrance difficult old house
Gonggong's 8 lines of 5 words
- Wusong is the name of the port at the mouth of the Yangze river, the entry to Shanghai
- The Yangze, also known as Changjiang, is not to be confused with Huanghe (Yellow River) but is yellow from silt just the same.
- In the last line of the poem, he quotes a phrase from a classic poem to mean he's been everywhere and seen a lot of things.
- in the description--which I saw tonight comes after the poem, he uses the phrase 'closer to home anxiety grows' that is from a classical poet who talked about the paradoxical emotions one experiences when returning home after a long time. I know that feeling.
Seeing Wusong
Wusong waters turn to yellow
Riverbank trees like my hometown
Shanghai is around the bend
I lived there once briefly
Felt lonely across East Sea
People say I've done much
Inside is empty and vain
What did you bring back?
Gone down sky-breadth roads
After graduating from business school in Tokyo, I took a boat back home. The closer I got to home, the more anxiety I felt. I wanted to write a poem to express my feelings, unfortunately this poem still doesn't fully portray them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
