English, Li Po, Sam Hamill, Poetry, Languages, Translations

Zazen on Ching-t’ing Mountain by Li Po

By T.

9 April 2016

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Zazen on Ching-t'ing Mountain
Li Po
Translated by Sam Hamill

The birds have vanished down the sky.
Now the last cloud drains away.

We sit together, the mountain and me,
until only the mountain remains.

MARGINALIA

1.
Was in an editorial meeting, and they were talking about tenses. Someone said, same as the timeframe of disappointment, and just like that I was paying attention. But not here—all of a sudden I was rifling through the rolodex in my head: this day, that day.

2.
Was listening to Nina Simone, nodding my head, bare feet tapping lightly on the floor. Just in time, she croons. I was lost, the losing dice were tossed. I have been here in this moment several times—at the Village Gate in my mind, in the living room of someone I used to love, between rows and rows of books in the library, in transit, in bed. This day, that day.

3.
Was a quiet week mostly. I mean, the demons in my head. I mean, I know some things have shifted—whether it’s the ground or the odds, I’ve yet to find out. But I’ll take what I can get: this day, that day.

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This poem appeared in Crossing the Yellow River: Three Hundred Poems from the Chinese by Li Po, published by BOA Editions Ltd., 2000. (Available on: Amazon • Bookshop)

DESCRIPTION

“After years of passionate labor, Sam Hamill has translated both familiar and little-known Chinese poems from three millennia (330 BC to the 16th century) to compile the most comprehensive collection of its kind. Crossing the Yellow River:Three Hundred Poems from the Chinese represents a “lifetime’s devotion to the classic originals,” in the words of W. S. Merwin, begun when Hamill was introduced to classical Chinese by Kenneth Rexroth and the Beat poets of the late 1950s.

Unlike earlier translators of Chinese and Japanese poetry, Hamill attempts to bring the poems into English with their directness and simplicity intact, at the same time attempting to remain true to the poet’s orginal message. Hamill includes the rarely-translated social poems of Tu Fu, the poems and songs of Tzu Yeh and Li Ch’ing-Chao, and lyrical selections from Li Po, Shih Ching, Wang Wei, Su Tung-p’o and others. Hamill’s introduction provides the most definitive overview to date of aesthetic impulses propelling Chinese poetry and reveals his own reasons for his “lifetime’s devotion.” “I sit at the feet of the great old masters of my tradition not only to be in a position to pass on their many wonderful gifts,” Hamill says, “but to pay homage while in the very act of nourishing, sustaining and enhancing my own life.”

Sam Hamill’s celebrated translations include The Art of Writing: Lu Chi’s Wen Fu; The Essential Chuang Tza; The Essential Basho; The Spring of My Life & Selected Haiku by Kobayashii Issa and Only Companion: Japanese Poems of Love & Longing. He is the author of a dozen volumes of original poety and three collections of essays. He is Founding Editor of Copper Canyon Press, director of the Port Townsend Writers’ Conference and contributing editor at The American Poetry Review. He lives in Port Townsend, Washington.” (Source)

ABOUT LI PO

A Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty, Li Bai (also known as Li Po, Li Pai, Li T’ai-po, and Li T’ai-pai) was probably born in central Asia and grew up in Sichuan Province. He left home in 725 to wander through the Yangtze River Valley and write poetry. He was married four times and was friends with the poet Du Fu. Li Bai wrote occasional verse and poems about his own life. His poetry is known for its clear imagery and conversational tone. His work influenced a number of 20th-century… (more)

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