Tag Archives: poetry

MRT Poetry: ‘Better a Song’ by Bai Ling 捷運詩：白靈的〈不如歌〉

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This time it’s a reader contribution. My former co-worker snapped this poem on the MRT and sent it to me. The poem was written by Chuang Tsu-huang (莊祖煌 pinyin: Zhuang Zuhuang) who goes under the pen-name Bai Ling (白靈). He was born in Taipei’s Wanhua District in 1951 to a family from Fujian in China. After studying chemistry in Taiwan and teaching for a while, he went to the US to study a master’s at the Stevens Institute of Technology. He is currently a professor at National Taipei University of Technology and at one time took part in a grassroots poetry collective, including a period as the editor of a grassroots poetry publication. He has won a plethora of prizes for his poetry.

不如歌 Better a Song

平靜的無，不如抓狂的有
Better a manic something over a tranquil nothing
坐等升溫的露珠，不如捲熱而逃的淚水
Better a tear bubbled up in heat over a dewdrop awaiting the warmth
猛射亂放的箭矢，不如挺出紅心的箭靶
Better to land the bullseye than to loose an arrow in haste
養鴿子三千，不如擁老鷹一隻
Better a single eagle than to raise three thousand doves
被吻，不如被啄
Better to be pecked, than to be kissed

MRT Poetry: Chen Ke-hua’s ‘Night’ 捷運詩句：陳克華的「夜」

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Another day, another opportunity to lean over someone to take a photo of the poem on the MRT behind them. This one’s by Chen Ke-hua and I thought it was pretty appropriate for this humid summer night.

夜     Night

沸騰之夜，     The Simmering Night,

將她最燙的一塊皮膚     Lays the most scalding piece of its skin

貼在我頰上。     Against my cheek.

我疼出淚來，說：不，     I cry tears of pain and say, “No”,

這不是我最需要溫暖的位置。     This isn’t where I’m most in need of warmth.

Chen was born in 1961 and was born in Hualien in Taiwan, although his family were originally from Wenshang in Shandong. After graduating from Taipei Medical University he started his career in medicine. In 1997 he studied at the Harvard Medical School, returning to Taiwan in 2000. He now works at the Department of Ophthalmology of Taipei Veterans General Hospital and as an assistant professor at the medical school of National Yang Ming University. As well as his medical career, he’s also a poet, an author, a painter and a photographer.

MRT Poetry: ‘Mental Image’ by Yan Ai-lin 捷運詩句：顏艾琳的「意想圖」

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There’s still plenty of nice poetry to be found on the MRT when you’re out and about in the city.

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意想圖

Mental Image

木訥之僧在街口肅立

An unaffected taciturn monk stands solemnly on the corner

他伸出雙手

With both hands outstretched

十指化為一隻缽

His ten fingers forming an alms bowl

化著路行者的隨緣心

Shaping the casual kindness of passersby

Yan Ailin was born in 1968 in Tainan. She graduated in history from Fu Jen Catholic University. She is a poet, a lecturer and an author.

N.B.  Variants of 「缽」 featured in a previous post.

MRT Poetry: ‘Flower’ by Bi Guo 捷運詩句：碧果的〈花〉

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I found this poem entitled Flower (花) by Taiwanese poet Bi Guo (碧果) on the MRT:

花

僅差一步

就是

 

界

外

脫去衣裳可以走了

 

Flower

Just one more step

Is

 

The

Beyond

One can leave after shedding one’s garb

I also liked the stylized way the author’s name was written on the poster.

Bi Guo was born in 1932 and is the author of several poetry collections, including A Heartbeat Afternoon, A Changing and Unchanging Canary, Corporeal Awareness and Poetry Belongs to Eve. He has also published a collection of essays, a novel and a play. You can hear him reading some of his poems in Chinese below in a video by the Culture Bureau of the Taipei City Government:

 

 

MRT Poetry 2: ‘Poetry’s Funeral’ 捷運詩: 詩的葬禮

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Another little poem on the MRT spotted. Anybody found any others?

詩的葬禮 A Poem’s Funeral
(洛夫著 by Lo Fu)

把一首
I put a
在抽屜裡鎖了三十年的情詩
Love poem locked in a drawer for 30 years
投入火中
Into the fire

字
The words
被燒得吱吱大叫
Screeched as they burned
而灰爐一言不發
While the furnace was silent
它相信
Believing
總有一天
That one day
那人
That someone
將在風中讀到
Would read it in the wind