{"id":3065,"date":"2015-03-11T09:30:33","date_gmt":"2015-03-11T01:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3065"},"modified":"2015-01-25T23:10:25","modified_gmt":"2015-01-25T15:10:25","slug":"morses-he-qifang-in-eleven-eleven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3065","title":{"rendered":"Morse’s He Qifang in Eleven Eleven"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Magic Grass,” by He Qifang\u00a0\u4f55\u5176\u82b3<\/span> (1912-1977), has been published in Eleven Eleven <\/em><\/a>in Canaan Morse’s translation. Prose by a poet, it begins:<\/p>\n

The books on magic speak of a certain species of miraculous grass, whose power is such that not even the most complex and difficult lock can withstand it. The words uncap my imagination. From deep within the mountains the harvesters come searching for it, bright blue-green, to close it tightly inside a wooden box and leave to dry for many days; then when it is dry and yellowed, it possesses unmatched arcane power. Grief has long held me captive in darkness and mystery, left me pacing up and down before my own door like a man banished from Paradise. Sometimes, I would rather be one of those children peddling matches\u2014go out in the frigid night and scrape golden sparks from off the wall like opening a window, maybe catch a glimpse of happiness shimmering inside. Only now do I realize that the key I am searching for is really a blade of grass, extinct from common use and unknown to men.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Click here <\/a>for the full piece.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Magic Grass,” by He Qifang\u00a0\u4f55\u5176\u82b3 (1912-1977), has been published in Eleven Eleven in Canaan Morse’s translation. Prose by a poet, it begins: The books on magic speak of a certain species of miraculous grass, whose power is such that not … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-Nr","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3348,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3348","url_meta":{"origin":3065,"position":0},"title":"Morse’s Yang Xiaobin in The Baffler","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"January 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Canaan Morse has two translations of poems by Yang Xiaobin\u00a0\u694a\u5c0f\u6ff1 in The Baffler, \"The Lighthouses\" and \"Hard Objects.\" Have a look: Bones sprout in antiquity. Decorate antiquity. Many moistures are injected by fresh hands. Space is uttered by bones as is walking. Click on the titles for links to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":711,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=711","url_meta":{"origin":3065,"position":1},"title":"Xi Chuan in Eleven Eleven","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"February 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The new issue of Eleven Eleven, the journal of the MFA Writing Program at the California College of the Arts, is now up, featuring my translations of three Xi Chuan pieces: \"Ill Fortune C 00024\" \u5384\u8fd0 C 00024, \"Ill Fortune O 09734\" \u5384\u8fd0 O 09734, and \"King of Chess\" \u68cb\u738b.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1202,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1202","url_meta":{"origin":3065,"position":2},"title":"Eleven Eleven 13","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"September 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 I just received my copy of Eleven Eleven 13. Click the image to order yours from SPD.","rel":"","context":"In "Anthologies"","block_context":{"text":"Anthologies","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":832,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=832","url_meta":{"origin":3065,"position":3},"title":"I’m back from my trip to India","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"April 10, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"from Xi Chuan's \"A Sanskrit Brick from the Nanzhao Kingdom (738\u2013937 CE): After a Vietnamese Poet\" \u5357\u8bcf\u56fd\u68b5\u6587\u7816\uff1a\u4eff\u4e00\u4f4d\u8d8a\u5357\u8bd7\u4eba: On the gray-green brick eleven lines of Sanskrit. The hands that molded the Sanskrit lines. The hands that inlaid the brick into the base of the pagoda. The late Nanzhao monk who could\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1599,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1599","url_meta":{"origin":3065,"position":4},"title":"Canaan Morse on Xi Chuan’s new book in Chinese","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"February 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"In \"Say What You Won't,\" Canaan Morse reviews Enough for A Dream \u591f\u4e00\u68a6,\u00a0 Xi Chuan's newest collection of poems in Chinese. Morse writes: Local language allows these poems to represent their respective subjects with painful honesty\u2014not through invective, but rather through a soft, playful sarcasm that appears to be one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":329,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=329","url_meta":{"origin":3065,"position":5},"title":"Last Day of International Poetry Nights Hong Kong","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"November 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Having edited Chinese to English translations for the International Poetry Nights' Words & the World booklets, I am familiar with all the participating poets who write in Chinese. Still, having a chance to hear Hongkong poet Wong Leung Wo \u738b\u826f\u548c read his poems--written in standard Chinese, pronounced as Mandarin in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "International Poetry Nights"","block_context":{"text":"International Poetry Nights","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3065"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3065"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3067,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3065\/revisions\/3067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}