Interview with poet Chen Xingguang: Between me and a star, there is a long staring distance

Writing poetry is a very lonely thing

It's "grinding the knife alone"

Under the lights of the night

Chen Xingguang, born in November 1972. He is a member of the Chinese Writers Association. His major works include the poetry collections "Moonlight Walking" and "Floating Life". His poems have been published in Poetry Journal, Youth Literature, Caotang Poetry Journal, Poetry Jiangnan, Selected Poems, Stars Poetry Journal, Poetry Monthly Magazine, Jiangnan Poetry Journal, Yangtze River Poetry Journal, Literature Newspaper, etc., and have been included in more than ten anthologies such as "Three Hundred Contemporary Short Poems", "Best Poetry of the Year", and "Chinese Poetry Annual Selection". Walk through the city sounds, moonlight and mountains, with dreams as horses and poems as sending. He currently lives in Yongkang, Zhejiang.

Xie Jun: Starlight, good. Congratulations on your recent award for the 8th Chinese Poetry Breakthrough Poet of the Year Award. In my impression, your image is relatively clear, in 1972, one meter and seven two, thin, walking like Du Fu, and honesty, quiet. A good man, with a double legacy, Du Fu's talent for writing poetry, and his father's thinness. Your parents, the place of birth, your childhood, your reading, your going to town, these represent your past, in your poems, and certainly in your heart, can you talk about it?

Chen Xingguang: Hello Brother Xie Jun! Speaking of my father, I haven't heard from my father in ten years. He was strong, his face was thin, and his voice was humming like a melon in a field. Now only the mother is left in the countryside. She was a shrewd and capable rural woman, and her biggest regret was that she was illiterate, but she raised our three sisters. This year is 71 years old, but also in love with winemaking, osmanthus wine mulberry wine glutinous rice wine, hidden in an altar jar, a full four or five hundred pounds. The aroma of wine wafted around the house.

I was born in a small mountain village called Maguan in Zhoushan Town, Yongkang City. Driving from the city to the G330 National Road, through the stone pillars, the stone side of the highway two drainage fir at the station guard, the wind blowing rice waves, half an hour to arrive. Zhoushan still has a primitive and simple beauty, like a peach blossom garden, with rocks and ancient houses, surrounded by clear water and green mountains. But my childhood and teenage were poor and gray. At the age of seventeen, I was admitted to the Jinhua Finance School in Zhejiang Province, and after graduating at the age of nineteen, I have been working in the Yongkang fiscal and taxation system, a small civil servant who follows the rules, and I have not achieved anything. It was as if it were just an instant, fifty years old. The experience of life is very thin, only slightly richer than Borges's life in the library. Jiashan has not changed much, it is only us who have changed, going out and coming back, and in the blink of an eye, youth is no longer there.

Maybe you read a little bit of Du Fu's taste in my poems, and thought of Du Fu from my thinness. When I was young, I liked Li Bai, temperament, great talent, poetry can blurt out, let me be amazed. But now I am in love with Du Fu, his worries about the country and the people, and his sentimentality and sadness. Alas, in this day and age, who does not have fear in his heart and is deeply resonated in Du Fu's poetry?

Xie Jun: One of the great impressions of your poems is that they have to do with what happens in life. Writing poetry is about going deeper into the world of our existence, and in this context, Dushi is the tradition. Good words contain the magic of memory and healing, you have a poem about the mother, I read it is difficult to forget, write to answer the mother's phone, the mother calls mostly to ask the son to go home to get the various vegetables she grows, but always a little scared when answering, afraid of hearing bad news. The poetic descriptions are intimate, moving, funny and insightful. Such poetry is a kind of wisdom. I would like to ask you to tell you a piece of life, a good memory, about parents, childhood, love, can be.

Chen Xingguang: That poem is called "Mother's Call", and I didn't expect to leave such a deep impression on my brother. I think the poem is thin in poetry and texture, and I didn't write it well.

There are always some unforgettable memories in people's lives, I can't tell which is the deepest, let's say three: First, in the summer of 1989, it was the "double robbery" season, more than a dozen of our families and more than twenty people took a nap at noon along the street of a large courtyard, and suddenly the radio rang out: "Maguancun Chen Guang please note, Maguancun Chen Guang please note, you have already taken the exam (the exam is Yongkang dialect, that is, the meaning of the exam), please go to the Huancheng Health Center on time tomorrow morning to participate in the physical examination", broadcast three times in a row, I was hit by huge shock and ecstasy! At that time, the difference between wearing leather shoes and wearing straw shoes was between wearing leather shoes and not being able to pass the examination. Later, I learned that I was the third place in the liberal arts department of that year, and my grandfather was very happy to put on a movie for me in the village. Second, when I got married, I carried my beautiful wife to the fifth floor in one breath! People are in good spirits when they are happy, and this is true. Now I can't hold it, because she has gone from ninety pounds to one hundred and twenty pounds, and I have lost my passion and strength, haha. The third is the only sentence my father said to me before he died: "Take good care of your mother on my behalf", when tears came out at once, and it is difficult to forget for eternity!

Xie Jun: It is very good to say, the three memories of the elder brother, three moments, have had a strong vibration and collision in the soul, although they are short, but they are worth cherishing for a lifetime. "Mother's Phone" I liked it because I wrote about your worries about your mother's physical condition. It's a serious, heavy topic, but you write heavy in a beautiful way, which is not something that ordinary people can do. I prefer the poetic meaning of facts, but I need to hide lightness in the narrative, that is, to take everything into a soft voice.

Chen Xingguang: I respect my brother's liking, and my brother is an excellent poet who is well-informed. As soon as the poem is presented, it belongs to the reader. I have written a lot of family poems, written about my father's poems, every time I read it, I was in tears, their generation, really did not enjoy life, life is just work, and silently endure. Brother said to write heavy, it is really difficult, I am not a smart poet, poetry is as honest as people, brother is actually enlightening my poetry writing.

Xie Jun: Your poems are the best gifts for your loved ones. I am such a person, I like lively, real poetry. Empty poetry is boring to read, and that kind of reading is not only a waste of time, but also very painful, and this truth is well known. My dialogue with my brother is based on a recognition of your poetry. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to talk to people. Here, I also agree with one of your points, "Poetry is always less, the cold land / Snow lotus, only few people / very little time to meet", this is your lyricism in "Summer Reading Poetry", but also thinking. I mean, how did you meet poetry?

Chen Xingguang: Thank you brother for recognizing me, I care about the evaluation of my poetry by excellent poets who write well. Encountering poetry can be said to be inevitable. When I was a child, I was weak, often sick, and the conditions at home were not good, which developed my introverted personality. But my father loved to read, subscribed to a lot of newspapers and periodicals, and my family's books were the most in our village. My father was a farmer who farmed at home, planted bamboo, planted fruit trees and strawberries, but he had a unique side, what we Yongkang people call "two-legged bookcases", that is, he had cultural knowledge but could not use it. So, I became a poet, and my father's influence was the soil.

By chance, when I was in my second year of junior high school, the school organized an encyclopedic knowledge contest, and my grades were much higher than the second place, and the principal praised me severely in front of all the teachers and students. This praise is a literary seed, planted in my heart. When I was studying at the Finance School, I was almost crazy about writing poetry, and when I was 18 years old, I published my debut novel "Rain" in Yongkang Daily, and I still remember the last sentence was "Laughing at the City", although it is very childish to watch now. After joining the work, he has always liked to read poetry and write poetry, and won the first prize in the Yongkang Poetry Essay Contest at the age of 20, and published a group of poems in "East Sea" at the age of 22, but at that time, what was written was actually not poetry.

Xie Jun: Well, the memory of the brother is superb, 30 years later, the title and the last sentence of the first poem are still remembered. After writing this for a while, have there been any important changes since then? I want to know your writing history.

Chen Xingguang: In poetry writing, there are always some things that you have to learn and master. It's an extremely wonderful art, and no matter how long you've been writing, it still has something new. My writing, after truly entering the door of poetry, can be divided into three stages:

The first stage was to learn, hone and grow on the Internet poetry forum after going online in 2002. Now I want to come to a trance. At that time, we were all intimate exchanges, and at the Four Seasons Poetry Forum, the Eight Thousand Mile Road (later the Tropic of Cancer), or the website, everyone posted poems and commented on poems, greeted and debated, and enjoyed it. At that time, I wrote a number of fairly good poems such as "Moonlight Walking", "Silence", "Big Dream", and "Occasional Conversation with Poet Wei Wen in the Car". At this stage of poetry, I collected and published a collection of poems, "Moonlight Walking".

The second stage, after 2008. The online poetry forum disappeared, and I silently insisted on it alone. The result of this persistence was the publication in 2011 of a single edition of Fusheng, a 178-chapter poem written intermittently for three years. Most of the chapters have been published in "Literary Harbor", "Poetry Jiangnan", "First Promoted Poet", "Selected Poems", "Chinese Poetry Era Exhibition". This long poem marks the beginning of my poetry's realism in the face of a bleak life. He was also praised and encouraged by Ke Ping, Shu Cai, Black Pottery, Hubei Frog and other teachers and friends. Brother Ke Ping said: "The long poem "Floating Life" adopts a concise and smooth way similar to the "Book of Poetry", and vividly writes the reality of oppressing the body. The sharpness and pain in the poem are not only his understanding and helplessness about the truth of life, but also like a bright outlet for his claustrophobic inner life. In terms of form, it shows the skill of the technique and the ability to handle the text comprehensively. Brother Shu Cai said: "'Floating Life' is like a landscape everywhere, but also like a scene of mood, the narrative is only a clue, and the mood is the driving force." The brushwork is concise and clear, with the correspondence and symmetrical beauty of classical poetry, and the poetry floats and intertwines between the scene and the mind. A moving sense of reality that shows the honesty and straightforwardness of the poetic heart. The purity of poetry is precisely the turbidity of opposites to life, and the transcendence of poetry is also the helplessness of needles and lives. Brother Black Tao said: "I am a witness to starlight silently moving forward on the road of writing and constantly changing qualitatively." He has penetrated deep into life and literature and is a poet who deserves self-pride and social respect, a true poet. ”

In the third stage, in the ten years since "Floating Life", I have continued and expanded and deepened poetry with similar themes. Of course, the technique is becoming more and more mature, and the connotation and language texture are constantly improving. Many poets say that I am one of the few poets who can write better and better after forty years of age, and I believe they are sincere. I have a clear understanding of my poetry writing.

Xie Jun: I find that the images of nature, starry sky, and plants are more prominent in your poems, especially the symbol of rain, which is written very subtlely, such as - if there is no love / every room and day / is called loneliness / / and you are too far away / Rain, only rain / within reach - Indeed, many times, we will feel that the countryside is calmer than everything, and the starry sky is brighter than everything. Do you think your poetry has an idyllic and natural color? The poetic thinking of a good poet is very important, and I would like to ask you to clarify your unique understanding of poetry.

Chen Xingguang: "The stars are brighter than in the city" is a poetic feeling. It is natural to be close to nature as a poet. I'm thankful that in the face of nature, I still have a pair of childlike eyes. I think all writing is a prayer. In the world, even a prison cannot contain sunlight and clear light, and the mountains of our Jiangnan are emerald green flames that will never be extinguished.

Poetry is almost useless in reality, it is not an acre and a third of land, carrying a small hoe and waving a spring and summer, and there is a specific harvest in the autumn. My wife said, you say you are a poet, and you have a little name, but what contribution does it make to the family? I could only snort, I couldn't get up, so I had to hurry up and wash the dishes. One day I had tea with my friend Jian Bai and talked about the poems I had written for her, and she said that although she was also moved, it was ultimately useless compared with the powerful reality. I had to stay. But without poetry, where is the soul? The noise of the world is a kaleidoscope, in the river of time, everyone lives silently, silently away, and will eventually be annihilated into the void. This is people's anxiety and confusion. Perhaps only when one thinks in this way, poetry, and the peace that poetry may bring, is our best friend. From this point of view, poetry, and all good writing, is salvation for oneself.

Of course, writing faces reality and times and requires us to swim underwater and hold our breath. A poem that does not wither, it must have bones, it can stand up. A poem that does not wither must also be the ultimate in language. In a sense, writing is a struggle with language, and poetry that is waved at a time is ultimately less. Writing poetry tests a poet's emotional sincerity, insight into and discovery of the world's unique gaze, and ability to express themselves precisely. The same applies to the poems.

Xie Jun: Your poems have the wisdom of life and the experience of the times, in addition, there is a faint sad mood, which is easy to resonate. I feel that the mood of classical Chinese poetry is a choice for you, paying attention to the imagery, rhythm, and exquisite wording. I want to know your writing ideas and where it comes from.

Chen Xingguang: I admire classical Chinese poetry, and its shadow is deep in my bones. Li Bai, Du Fu, Wang Wei, Tao Yuanming, Su Dongpo, Xin Zhiyi, Huang Zhongze, and so on. In addition, I was also deeply influenced by foreign poetry. Bree's collection of poems, Love a Woman from Two Worlds, I remember borrowing a copy from Brother Keping. Milosz was a poet I read over and over again during the same period. One of my points: a poet who has more than fifty poems for you to like is your poetry nobleman. James Wright is a poet I've read over and over again in recent years, and his language fascinates me even more than Bree. As a deep Imagist poet, Wright's writing about natural things is more flexible and subtle, and many of the poems I have memorized. There are many foreign poets I like, Amy, Zelan, Brecht, Walcott, Auden, Heaney, Tronstrum, Borges, Strand, Neruda, Cavafis, Gilbert, Oliver, and so on. I have read Shu Dandan's translation of "The Meaning of Other Places" no less than ten times, and I have also mail-ordered six copies to give to local poets Jinshui and Weiwen. It can be said that these masters are my long-term friends and teachers in writing.

Xie Jun: Poetry interacts with the world, including our lives, times, and history. "The rain of an era is still falling / Weeping for the people of the world", this is your poem about "Rain", which reads with a maverick sense of loneliness and vastness. It reminds me of a person, your sage and predecessor, Mr. Chen Liang, a mr. Longchuan who had a unique talent and unique personality during the Southern Song Dynasty. This has nothing to do with your positioning for your writing. I can read that your poetic gaze has a humanitarian concern for the world.

Chen Xingguang: From a higher level, poetry can encompass the whole world. The world is not perfect, sometimes contradictory and broken. But both now and historically, there are noble and painful souls. I hope that through such souls, their great loneliness, sorrow, darkness, in this clarity they see themselves, illuminate themselves.

Chen Liang is such a person, he is one of the most famous historical figures that Yongkang has ever produced, not only talented, but also extraordinary. Over the years, I have visited his grave many times to pay homage, and I have also written more than ten poems about Chen Liang. Last year I served as vice president of the Chen Liang Research Association, participating in the editing of poems and essays in the quarterly journal of Chen Liang Studies as a distant tribute to him. Also, his name is Chen Liang, my name is Chen Guang (my ID name is Chen Guang, pen name is Chen Xingguang), and I feel that there is always some inheritance or relevance in the underworld.

Therefore, in this way, it felt as if Chen Liang was not so far away from himself. Chen Liang calls himself the dragon among men and the tiger in the text! Self-esteem is high, a bit arrogant. Although fate is too bad to be lamented, his poetry has made him immortal. Passionate, across the sea, the momentum is very large, known as "toppling the wisdom and courage of the world, opening up the heart of eternity". This light can illuminate any era and illuminate today. As long as you are a poet, you and I will certainly not be able to escape his shadow.

Xie Jun: I really appreciate your line of poetry - "Between me and a star / There is a long staring distance". If we gaze at life, long enough, the light will shine, as extraordinary as "I gaze at you as if this afternoon should be life itself." Yongkang is a place with mountains and water and good people, you live here for a long time, Fangyan, Wufeng, Lingyan, Water Lotus Garden Week, Puming Zen Temple, Daling Ancient Road, these have also appeared in your poems or gaze. Can you briefly talk about the city of Yongkang and the feeling of socializing with friends as a poet?

Chen Xingguang: As a county-level city, Yongkang ranks in the forefront of various indicators of social and economic development in the country, and "Yongkang, The World Hardware Capital, Quality vitality" is the goal we are committed to pursuing. It has also always been my muse, and I have written more than sixty poems in my hometown of Zhoushan, and no less than three hundred poems about Yongkang landscapes and landscapes, and I can completely compile two poems alone. For the rest of my life I would write them repeatedly with a pen that I was not very talented at, writing his "postage stamp hometown" like Faulkner.

As a poet, loneliness is the norm. But fortunately, in Yongkang, I still have several friends with the same three views: painter Wang Kenong, beautiful singer, painter Yao Guoxia, old leaders Hu Dewei, Li Shiyang, Chen Qi, and we often drink tea and chat together. A few poets Zhang Jinshui, Jiang Weiwen, Yang Fang, Lü Xuan, we get along like brothers and sisters. When I was young, when I worked at the Fangyan Finance and Taxation Office, I often brought a few books to Wufeng on Saturdays and Sundays to read. I also often go to Tangli, Puming Zen Temple, and Nandu Zen Temple. The Yuan Zhou Jiangnan Art Museum is the base camp of our Writers Association and the Chen Liang Research Association.

Xie Jun: It is a very lonely thing to write poetry, to "sharpen the knife alone", in the night light. As a poet, you face challenges both creatively and spiritually, and can even be misunderstood as a fool. Your poems are well written and you have accomplished some of the remarkable psalms of your life. At the end of the interview, I would like to ask you to introduce the amount of writing, publication, and poetry accolades you have received so far.

Chen Xingguang: Writing poetry is self-knowledge. I love poetry, just be silly, it's not a big deal. How many things can a person do in a lifetime? I think my mission in this life is to leave a few poems. I believe I can still write good psalms.

Since the age of twenty, an average of one hundred poems have been written every year, and there have been three thousand or so, but there are not many that do not blush when they are taken out. I should have published three or four hundred poems in public journals so far, and I have won three or four first and second prizes for national poetry essays, but these are nothing in front of a poem that I am satisfied with! I am now satisfied with publishing three sets of poems a year in a journal I recognize. Last year, thanks to the love of friends, more manuscripts, eight groups were issued, and at the end of the year, he also won the "Eighth Chinese Poetry Breakthrough Poet of the Year Award", which was an unexpected surprise, and I regarded it as a "precious fruit grain" of the tireless poetry brigade. I was touched by the award speech written by the judge Wang Jiaxin' teacher: "Most of Chen Xingguang's poems are poems that we want to read, and they are also poems that we want to write but can't write. It touches on the deepest roots of poetry, and language carries a penetrating and piercing power. They belong to the poems of destiny from the poet's life's experience, and are connected to the flesh and blood of all the troubled life on the earth. They truly show the origin and texture of the soul of a Chinese poet today. ”

Xie Jun: Brother said very well, you have walked long enough on the path of poetry, and you will fly farther. Finally, thank you brother for sharing and communicating.

Chen Xingguang: It's my brother Xie. A few days ago, the Jinhua Writers Association wanted to compile a book "The Stars Shine - In-depth Dialogue with 100 Jinhua Writers", which needed an interview draft from me. I think it's just an opportunity to sort it out. I am very happy to be able to talk to my brother and fully feel the warmth of the friendship between poets.