Reading | Ethereal Tribe: Tracing the Spirit of Ancient Shu Water to Return Home - Reading Convex Concave's Latest Masterpiece "Water House"

Text/Ethereal Tribe

Convex is a famous poet with a very artisan temperament. He wrote poems about Li Bing, who has the spirit of craftsmanship, and the Dujiangyan Water Conservancy Project he is in charge of, without worrying that he will set the tone too high, I believe that his scale and precise control, that tone must be the sound of the surging water through time and space that the Min River hears in the hearts of the people of Shudichuan, and its melting snow water moistens the Chengdu Plain and flows into the Yangtze River, running to the sea, completing a reincarnation of the water of life.

Li Bingzhi water, canal to water suit; convex and concave poems are written, and water is composed of canals. Not to mention that Dujiangyan is a convex birthplace, with such a degree of trust and its unique perspective, his new poetry collection "Water House" (Chunfeng Literature and Art Publishing House, March 2022) naturally has a sense of mission, and has the strength to break new ground and the charm of discussing ancient and modern times.

Water guides the mountains and guides all things

Water is the source of life. When the convex concave wrote "Water guides the mountain, guides all things", the prototype of a "water house" is presented.

More than 30 years ago in Dujiangyan, I personally saw it, and when I read the first edition of "Cultural Journey", I was very impressed with "Dujiangyan", especially "Worship the water Dujiangyan, ask Qingcheng Mountain" has been engraved in my heart. Of course, limited to the prose of the nature of travelogues and a small number of pages, Yu Qiuyu has not yet reached the ideal depth of excavating the natural and humanistic values of Dujiangyan.

Now it seems that the convex concave is constructed and built with a novel, a collection of poems, and it is said that there is also a trinity of prose collections, and the image of Dujiangyan has become more and more three-dimensional in people's minds. His previous long historical novel "Tang Tang Shui Life - Qin Shu County Shou Li Bing", from the dual time and space of historical materials and the field, focused on restoring and reproducing a magnificent history. This time, nearly a hundred literary and historical fragments were extracted from the collected local historical relics and celebrities and literati, and the cross-time dialogue of modern poets began.

Along this vein, it is also the fortune of water. I used to call myself "the one who drinks the water of the Min River and grows bones" because my birthplace is at the exit of the Min River, which is also Yibin, the zero kilometer of the Yangtze River. In the face of the convex and concave poetry collection, I involuntarily began to read and study it deeply, which had a soul impact.

Coincidentally, I now live in Zigong, the salt capital, and I am deeply touched by the salt and salt culture parts of what he writes about. He wrote in "The Salt of Zhupi Pond": "The story of salt in the water shows that the means of ice are powerful. / Not only is it the vein of water, but also the vein of salt water. / Iron pickaxes for digging rivers / Pickaxes for digging salt wells / Have the same head and fate for the welfare of the people / Have the same science, five elements and witches. "The poet's associations are rich and different.

The water of the Min River moistens the Chengdu Plain and achieves the kingdom of Heaven, and the Min River is not only in length, but also in its width, and then has unlimited possibilities for new life, and thus "guides all things". Therefore, many of the old stories of the Kingdom of Tianfu are all related to the water of the Min River in Dujiangyan. Every node in time and the coordinates of life can write the fragments, rhymes and colors of poetry.

The convex concave grasped this characteristic, starting from the disposition of the avant-garde poet in the bones, and emitted a poetic voice, which was constantly heard. It can be seen that the emergence of the convex and concave "Water House" poetry collection is not an accidental phenomenon, but an inevitability of the right way in the world.

Poetic geography, vertical and horizontal

We can see that the entire poetry collection is an intertextual dialogue relationship formed in the form of historical records and modern poetic interpretations. Where the living water of the Minjiang River passes through and where the humanistic spirit of Dujiangyan is transmitted, it is the beginning of the poet's poetry, which is a major combing of the poetic geography of Dujiangyan and a key examination of the significance of poetics.

Therefore, the poet's crossing and pause, gaze and gaze, surprise and admiration, all have the weight of 2,000 years. The convex concave is combined with the many roles of a scholar of cultural relics, a phenomenologist of symbols, a fieldworker, and an almost master of soul induction, and it is also a great deal of poetry and poetry, and the discussion of ancient and modern is loud.

This long poem begins with Sima Qian's "History of the River Canal Book" of the Western Han Dynasty, and ends with the modern poet Liushahe's "Melody for the Benefit of the People", which calibrates the longitude and latitude of 72 poetic geographies of Dujiangyan, and is divided into three parts: upstream, middle and downstream, covering the Minjiang and Tuojiang rivers of Li Bingzhishui.

It can be seen that the poet's overall view and macroscopic consciousness play a decisive role in the layout of the poems. For the eighteen martial arts of tactics, the convex and concave scientific introduction of historical relics, and the sandwich discussion, so that bold ideas, careful verification, the use of all the tools within their own knowledge and all the moves in the poetry of martial arts, eclectic, indulgent play.

The convex poem has a very texture: "Know / Where there is no river / Not that there is no river, / It is the whirlpool that pierces the river through the bone, / Erected, / Inserted in the earth." This is a section of his poem "Water to the Mouth of the Aquarius", especially the word "piercing the bone" if it is a divine help. Such a thrilling place exists in a large number of poems, and it is not only rewarding to read, but also has a sense of superiority that cannot be stopped.

In the face of such a rich historical relic and the continuous regeneration of flowing water, Dujiangyan has a stronger modernity than any world cultural heritage. Not only is it a direct feeling of flowing water, but also the flowing water solidified in the form of stone carvings is still haunting the soul. For example, in "Touching the River in Tianfu Square": "I will look at the pillar of flowers / touch the pillar of water - / I find that following this solid river / All thoughts / Can reach the heavens and the earth, and be good to all things without dispute." "This, can you put it down?"

If it is not from a military point of view to interpret the "vertical and horizontal", I would like to say that the convex and concave in this 4,000-line long poem, into a large number of golden sentences and allusions, across the history and culture. This reminds me of Eliot's most influential long poem, "The Wasteland", which is full of historical allusions and is indeed a model of the text. The "slang" for it is the publicity and moderation of artistic means, and the convex and concave are just right.

The ancient and modern reflect the reflection, and the spirit returns home

The big waves of history are sandy, and the small waves of Dujiangyan are also sandy.

Water conservancy project is the only systematic project that human beings can build in the face of nature's pursuit of benefits and avoidance of harm, in addition to Dujiangyan, I also went to Hangzhou West Lake to see the water diversion project of Sudongpo, which is beneficial to the country and the people, and is still benefiting the people. Convex and concave named the collection of poems "Water House", which is considered to be written by the poetic Li Bing and the poetic Dujiangyan, but I think its essence is far more than that.

Water is the main body of poetry, in a broad sense, settling good water can be Guotai, and the house is where people live and work in peace and contentment, and building a house can achieve civil security, to Guotai min'an, this water conservancy project is an unshakable foundation. He has "A Country Built by a Drop of Water" and "The House of the Lord of Sichuan" to support his judgment, but now these physical houses have become places to commemorate Li Bing and the Dujiangyan Project. In the turbulent years of 2000, what remained unchanged was the river that was tamed for it and the popular will it benefited.

In the face of nature, Darwin, a British biologist and founder of evolution, believes in "The Origin of Species" that "natural selection and survival of the fittest", while the East is "let nature take its course, nature and man are one", and its core is "Taoist nature". If the Dujiangyan project is not a natural thing of the Taoist law, does not respect nature, but is moved against the current of the water, then what we see today is only the ruins of history and the failure of the world. Fortunately, the water we see today is not only the ancient lifeline project that enriches the Chengdu Plain, but also makes people harmonious and happy, and fully demonstrates the inclusive characteristics of Shushui culture.

Mountains and rivers are solidified into novels, and flowing rivers and rivers are flexibly transformed into poems.

The convex poem is not the lyrical poetic text that people are accustomed to, but he is paying tribute to a great figure and a great project. The empty lyricism obviously could not touch the core and spiritual essence of things, and he resolutely placed himself in this historical scene, to touch the time when the dust had settled, to wade into the clear, bone-soaked distant water, and to see the backs of the nameless craftsmen of the past from the flowing water of Dujiangyan, and the wind blew his hair but did not blow away his firm belief.

"Thirty-six cave heavens, seventy-two blessed lands" refers to the famous mountain resort where Shinto lives. Coincidentally, "Water House" also happens to be 72 poems, and each poem is a poem written in a blessed place. In a sense, these are the cultural coordinates of Li Bing and Dujiangyan, and the historical coordinates of the world cultural heritage. What is certain is that over time, in the eyes of future generations, these coordinates will emit light more clearly and be visible from thousands of miles away.

The choice of this convex and concave landmark not only has academic value, but also has the important significance of pursuing the ancient Shu water and returning to the hometown spiritually.

【About the Author】

Ethereal tribe, real name Yang Hua. Poet and poet critic. He is a member of the Sichuan Writers Association and the director of the Poetry Committee of the Zigong Writers Association. He has published 3 collections of poems from his colleagues, and has been selected into a number of poetry annuals, and has occasionally won poetry awards.