Poetry, to me, is magical, pure, unique, liberating……
Ever since I was small, my style of thinking (always leaping from one subject to the next), ingenuous and bold imaginations, and endless curiosity to explore the world all seemed to have reflected certain essential qualities of poetry. When I wrote my first poem at eleven years old, I fell instantly in love with the world of poetry.
Author
Two months ago, I won the 1st ‘00s International Poetry Award’ for the bilingual category. Founded by ‘00s Poet Society’, the ‘00s International Poetry Award’ is open to all Mandarin students born after 2000. It consists of three award categories: Best Mandarin Poems, Best Bilingual Poems, and Honorable Mentions. As I am a Chinese American, I grew up speaking both English and Chinese, thus my poems are also written in both languages.
Currently, the ‘00s Poet Society’ includes Mandarin-speaking poets living in China, US, Switzerland, UK, and other parts of Europe. Its motto is: let us knock open the doors of the new millennium, and release the poetry within!
I joined ‘00s Poet Society’ from the very beginning- over one year ago, as one of the founding members. Itgathered a bunch of young high schoolers who are passionate about poetry to explore, study, and create poems together. I find this type of cross-nation poetry-engaging opportunities for people our age especially rare and precious, thus have always treasured the chance offered by this poetry club.
Winning this award was very exciting for me, as it represented the acknowledgementfrom professional poet judges, which gave me a lot of support and encouragement. However, this is not an excuse to stop and be complacent, as there is still a long, seemingly endless road ahead.
Time
It is an indeterminate swindler
Arbitrarily shifting
Between a god of warmth
And a cold-blooded assassin
Or appears bloodless
In routine it delivers life into the devil’s hand
Even beings of its own kind; rattlesnakes, crocodiles…
It frequently encounters inevitable quarrels
With nature, death, and man kind
It certainly receive major triumphs,
But many times ends up with minor defeats
And wobbles in trembling steps
It is an unqualified employee, yet fully occupied
With two hundred and thirty three occupations
It succeeds as a connoisseur of the fine arts
But fails to digest the struggles of desperate souls
O but look at the faithful lovers who did not separate
And the lines of poetry that will never fade
Every vow made,
Every word written,
Is a win over time
時間
它，一個搖擺不定的騙子
任意地變動于
一個給予溫暖的神靈
和一個冷血殺手
或者看似了無生機
把生命拱手相送到死神的手掌是它的日常
甚至他的那些同類；響尾蛇，鱷魚……
它也會遇到不可避免的爭執
跟大自然，死亡，和人類
當然，它會獲得重大的勝利
更多時候，它會惜敗
蹣跚著，抖動著繼續前行
它是個不稱職的員工，卻占用了
二百三十三個職位
瞧，它是個成功的藝術鑒賞家
可它卻沒能消化掉絕望靈魂
的苦難和掙扎
哦，看看那對永不分離的情人
再看看那永遠不會消逝的贊美詩
每做出一個承諾
每寫下一行字
都贏過了時間
In my poems, I always like to choose one object, image, or concept and explore its meaning to me through the words of poetry. I personified‘Time’ as an opposer to mankind, as I feel the passage of time is the one thing that humans can never change. Throughout this poem, I also tried to capture a few qualities of time, such as its unpredictable and fickle nature.To me, poetry is much more about experimenting the possibilities and limits of language, and exploring and viewing the world through a more imaginative and unique lens, instead of expressing emotions.
My story with poetry could probably be traced back to the beginning of my memory. My father is a renowned Chinese contemporary poet, therefore ever since I was a child, I was exposed to the language and thoughts unique to poets. When I was three, my family and I moved to Dali, Yunnan Province, a dream-like place of mountains and lakes. My childhood was filled with nature, which most definitely influenced my way of imagination, creativity, and observation. Until now, almost all of my poems have imageries and inseparable links with nature.
The picturesque landscape of Dali
I began writing my first few poems just before graduating from elementary school. The new found way to release imagination made me fond of poetry. As I was growing up, I gradually discovered (and I am still in the process of discovering and exploring) the charm of the language of poetry: it is original yet full of uncertainty, lively and at the same time full of music, which I think is what makes it so irreplaceable. Perhaps this is one main thing I like about poetry: its ability to complicate and distort language, but at the same time act as an advocator of ‘order’. It is an ornament of language, yet it also is at the core of language. Therefore, it is a daring experimenter.
Eversince I came to UWC, its education philosophy, environment, people and the diversity have given me a lot of new ideas and topics to explore. For example, I would often observe the similarities and differences of people in this diverse environment, and from that to explore and establish my own identity. I have also become more aware of the importance of evironmental protection, and have developed a strong sense of empathy and compassion from being involved in community service projects. These new experiences gave me new inspirations for my poems. I have always been passionate about music, especially composition, and here, I was very lucky to have met a responsible and caring music teacher, who gave me a lot of guidance and encouragement. This has allowed the continuous improvement in my composition and expansion of my interest in music. There are a lot of links between poetry and music. The language of poetry has an infiltrating musicality in it, evident in every word, every syllable. As music is one of my other major hobbies, I am very often inspired by music.
Below are some more poems I submitted for the award:
Overthrow
1
In the gum of the sky bacteria flourished
For sweets a bit sourish,
Launch a series of attacks, restrikes, and counterstrikes
Ferociously gnawed through the string
That chained the sun in the sky, as it
Immovably hung above,
Bacteria twisted lapses of time
Then on edges of the sky they chewed out holes
Sky’s blood gushed out from cracks
Blood that had not been tasted before
Red, blue, and purple colored
Sun seized its chance and slipped into the holes
Luckily, its disappearance was able to cut short
The elongated daytime
2
A boa prepares for an assault
It aimed at its own tail, an attempt to once again swallow
The crocodile in its stomach
It stretches its tentative tongue, cautiously locating its enemy
The tail (of equal swiftness and alertness as it)
And the crocodile
It concludes that the enemy posed great threat
Hence came in the place the launching of plan N;
A series of attacks, restrikes, and counterstrikes
3
The ocean’s surface had always been in
A state of anarchy
With the throne continuously toppled
(Yet reconstructed the very next second)
Surging waves trampled on their kin
Repeatedly crushed their skulls
Until reaching the apex, and usurped the throne
At the very next second vanish completely
The world is absolutely ravenous
It does not even realize its own hunger
反噬
1
天空的牙床生了許多蛀蟲
為了糖果
它們的無畏地進攻、再攻、反攻
啃噬了天上拴著太陽的線
太陽吊在空中
時間被蛀蟲扭曲
又在天邊嚼出些窟窿
天空的鮮血從縫隙涌出
那些還沒被舔過的血—紅的、藍的、紫的
太陽趁機滑入窟窿
這才把沒有及時逝去的時間
補上
2
一條蟒蛇正準備著進攻
它把苗頭對準了自己的尾巴，試圖再次吞下
肚子里的鱷魚。
它伸縮著舌頭，小心地試探著敵方
它的尾巴（與它一般敏捷、警戒）
和那只鱷魚
它斷定敵人具有強烈的威脅性
于是，啟動了N計劃；反復的
進攻、再攻、反攻
3
大海的表層一直以來都處于
無政府狀況
王位不斷被推翻（卻又在下一秒重建）
洶涌的海浪踩踏過同伴
重復壓擠它們的頭顱
直至達到頂端，篡得王位
下一刻卻消失的無影無蹤
世界是如此的饑餓
它自己都沒意識到
This poem is based on the concept of being overthrown. From this starting point, I divided the poem into three parts, each set in a different context in nature, thus portraying altering states of ‘overthrow’. When I wrote this, what appeared in my mind was a lot of the unnecessary aggression and impatience around us and in society, due to human greed and desire, and how this would eventually lead to an overthrow.
Butterfly Specimen
A wing attempted to fly out of the universe
It fell onto the ground
And sank into a motionless whirlpool
Another thousand of them drowned consecutively
The antenna misplaced itself onto a hunter’s trap
It became immobile
But the trap was meant for rabbits,
Feral and untrained ones
The pair of eyes got captured from desertion
After a bloody fight in a losing war
It got pinned onto a fixed spot in time
The butterfly lived in its framed death
Forced to reconcile with its wing and antenna and eyes
Reassembled from scratch,
It is condemned by its ever-lasting delicacy
That is never damaged, nor perfected.
蝴蝶標本
一片翅膀試圖飛出宇宙
卻摔到了地上
被一個靜止的漩渦所淹沒
之后，又一千片翅膀片片溺于水中
觸角不小心觸到了獵人的捕獸夾
它動彈不得
但夾子要抓捕的是兔子，那些
野生，未馴的兔子
在一場宿命已定的血腥戰斗中，
眼睛如逃兵被俘獲
被釘入時間的固定點上
蝴蝶活在被框架的死亡中
它被迫與自生的翅膀，觸角，眼睛和睦相處
經過革命般的重新組裝，
它的精美處處詛咒著自生
永遠無法損壞的精美外觀，卻永遠不可能完美無瑕
I have always loved butterflies, but never been so fond of butterfly specimen. I’ve always thought the beauty of the insect had already died with its body. This kind of thinking about the relations between life, death, immortality, and nature with the butterfly specimen, led to the writing of this poem.
United World Colleges
United World Colleges (UWC) is a unique global educational movement, with outstanding students selected from over 150 countries and regions. Founded in 1962, UWC makes education a force to unite peoples, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future. At UWC, students with different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds live and study together and experience a transformative education that prepares students to become future leaders with a global perspective and dedication to social services.
UWC Changshu China offers two-year IB Diploma Programme and one-year Foundation Programme.
