It’s Still a Miraculous Word
2020; University of Hawaii Press; Volume: 32; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/man.2020.0064
ISSN1527-943X
AutoresDongdong Chen, Ming Di, Frank Stewart,
ResumoIt’s Still a Miraculous Word Chen Dongdong (bio) Translated by Ming Di and Frank Stewart I know this vicious minute’s hour. Dylan Thomas It’s still a miraculous wordstruggling inside a thin dictionary,unaltered, pointing toward what it has always meant, smaller than a seed, heavier than a tankgrinding over uneven terrain, colder than icefrozen overnight, sheltered from scorching flames.Its color is mixed with forgetting. The word is still there, not deleted.In the sunset, another layer of concreteis poured over a wide tract of land, so that peoplebending over and nostalgic for harvesting their wheatwill not be able to recognize it. The word has lain dormant and not sprouted.It wants only to be the same word that was once shouted,surging up through the rocky shell of the earth,trailing blackest days and whitest nights. The word is neither dispirited norblazing. It remains hidden in a dictionarythinner than itself,tightly wrapped in paper. It neither shines, nor reflects light.It curls around its dark gleaminglike a twisted wire. And when the bundle of paper is finally loosened,the rusty wire will break free into the open. It’s still a miraculous word. 2014.6.4 [End Page 179] Chen Dongdong Chen Dongdong was born in Shanghai in 1961. He graduated from Shanghai Normal University, began writing poetry in 1981, and became associated with a group of experimental poets in the 1980s. His recent publications include Unbanned Title (2011) and The Guide Map (2013). He now lives in Shenzhen. Copyright © 2019 University of Hawai‘i Press
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