Many divergent roads, now safe
— "Writing with Disabilities" tonight
Porridge sample
1. Retrospective
At noon on April 23, 2024, at the "Porridge City" next to the north gate of Yuexiu Park in Guangzhou, poets Lao Dao, Dianqiu Gu wine, and porridge gathered. As core members of the humanistic theory of "Impediment Writing", they have not sat together for the sake of a panel discussion for many years.
At the foot of Yuexiu Mountain, a small hill in Guangzhou, the original name "Yongya Mountain House" (or also known as Yongyuan Villa?) was changed to "Porridge City" so straightforward and "barrier-free".
The years are not forgiving, and the "three treasures of the brain-dead" of the year have their own physical problems, and when they meet and smile, they are all time to pick up people.
It is still the old knife who leads the topic, and although there are some mistakes, he still firmly believes in the theoretical self-sufficiency and wide popularity of the "obstacle writing" proposed 12 years ago.
Back in 2012, when Meng Chun read the poem "Scholar" at the Taishan Poetry Awards Gala in western Guangdong, it was like a moment of inspiration. The old knife suddenly understood, as he described the pedantic scholar, life is as difficult as in ancient times, the difficulty is not in the appearance of things, there is always a lack of cognition, this phenomenon can be summarized in one word: encountered "obstacles".
Those who rushed left and right in the obstacle were ridiculed as "brain-dead" at the time. In fact, the so-called brain-dead are likely to have tread to the "other side" of things. So if you write from the heart, "understand" with "not understanding", and apply a special cognition to writing, can't you stand out from the rest of traditional writing?
It is named "Obstacle Writing", and the poetry genre is called "Brain Dead", so why not? Everyone laughs at me, but I don't say anything!
Lao Dao borrowed from literary classics, such as Chekhov's "The Man in the Suit", Han Shaogong's "Daddy, Dad", etc., to draw out the hidden clues of the human spirit. He will create a new idea and communicate with his old friend Dianqiu Gu wine. Dian Qiu was originally born in the "garbage poetry school", and there is no difficulty in accepting this novel interpretation of life. The two further worked out several principles such as "speaking with obstacles", but this article is the most important.
The two happened to be invited to participate in a fundraising event for children with cerebral palsy in Shenzhen, and the companions were porridge with the same love of poetry. On the way back, when waiting for the bus at Bao'an Bus Station, he explained this concept to him, and it is indispensable to have the heart to learn the porridge of the world, and he is willing to join in as a way to explore poetry.
As a result, the "Three Treasures of the Brain" joined hands, and the original intention remained unchanged until now, on the morning of the Qingming Festival on April 4, 2012.
In Taishan, Dong Langzi, a heroic poet in the province at that time, listened to the obstacle writing of "speaking with obstacles" proposed by Lao Dao at the poetry recital, and Dong Dangzi praised it and proposed that he write a big article to explain the core concept of obstacle writing. Later, Mei Laoxi, who was born in a family of traditional Chinese medicine and wrote poems that both cut out the heart and pointed to the east and west, also joined the gang with great interest. (The short-term alliance also included Jiangnan Quinoa, who engaged in bar theater activities, and Qingshan Xue'er, a poetess from Hebei.) ）
Later, Mr. Haihai, an important Chinese folk thinker, also listened to the introduction with great interest, saying that the potential for the elaboration of this theory is very great.
Lao Dao and Dian Qiu joined forces to organize activities, which made the Guangdong poetry scene lively for a while-
On April 30, 2012, only 16 days after the birth of this writing concept, the "First Barrier Writing (Brain Dead) Theory Release and Seminar" was held, with the participation of dozens of critics and poets such as Xu Xiaonan, Dong Dangzi, Huang Lihao, Shibin, Luo Xi, Hainan poets Ji Shaofei and Ai Zi.
In December 2012, he published "A Bunch of Brain-Dead Poems" in the journal "Guangzhou Literature and Art".
On July 26, 2013, the "Three Treasures of the Brain Dead" and Dong Langzi held a special dialogue at the Guangdong Writers Association, and the collated draft was published in two issues in the organ newspaper of the Writers Association, now "Guangdong Literary Circle". (Unfortunately, Mr. Dong Langzi passed away suddenly two and a half months later, after a long time of great achievements...... ）
On New Year's Day 2014, the poet and translator Dazang published "The Opportunity, External Context and Poetic Value Orientation of "Brain Dead" Poetry", which gave preliminary feedback on this concept.
On April 12, 2014, the "2nd Symposium on the Theory of Disabled Writing (Brain Dead) Body" was held, during which he was given the title of "Brain Dead Poet" and was conferred by Mr. Wen Yuanhui, a well-known poet and critic who later left us at a young age.
This event attracted more industry leaders Guo Yushan and Bao Shi, and critics, scholars Wu Fangfei, Long Yangzhi, Li Qiaomei, Su Wenjian, and folk critic Feng Chu all talked at the meeting.
On March 22, 2015, Zhu Ziqing, a cultural theorist who emigrated to Beijing, published in the newspaper "Ye Gongben of the Poetry Circle is a Dream "Disabled" People", criticizing the writing of obstacles, and the "Three Treasures of the Brain Dead" issued an article to respond accordingly. In the end, the war was turned into a jade silk and a good story in the literary world.
On April 23, 2015, Feng Chu published a long essay entitled "How New Poetry Finds New Expression of Nature in the Transformation of Modernity", which endowed the concept of obstacle writing with epochal significance from the height of a comprehensive poetry ecology.
……
The green years are hard to beat the vicissitudes of life, and it is an important day to February 16, 2023. Under the co-sponsorship of the Poetry Research Center of the Guangdong Modern Writers Research Association and the Southern Poetry Committee of the Provincial Cultural Communication Society, Lao Dao and Shi Bin, the initiator of the theory of "complete writing" in Guangdong, held a "Poetry Concept Exchange Meeting" at the Writers' Association. Two seemingly "top bulls", but in fact opposite to each other, have undergone a great collision of views.
Subsequently, the "Three Treasures of the Brain-Dead" (Jiamei Old Evil) gathered from time to time to jointly cherish the memory of Dongdangzi, diligently focused on the concept and practical innovation approach, and used a series of new media means from online interviews to the WeChat public account to continue to publicize.
As the pioneer of the trend, the old knife has the most feelings for this concept and has a deep understanding. He wrote poems that can be called the representative works of "obstacle writing", "The Opposite", as well as "Truth", "Liar", "Enemy", "Piano", "Guitar", "Hulusi", "Autumn is Coming" and other works that make people feel mixed feelings. Dianqiu Gu Liquor, "Double Ninth Festival", "Echo", "My Soul", etc., use the roughness and delicacy of the tiger sniffing the roses to vividly reflect people's distorted mentality. Porridge reluctantly followed up, "Noun Comparison", "Untitled" ("Yesterday Took That Sheep"), etc., which presented the mental struggles of the weak, and tried to compose a series of poems about American theater killers, "Extremely Vicious".
In addition to the three of them, Qingshan Xue'er's "Wound" and "Nothing, Only Poetry", Mei Laoxi's "My 2005" series selection, "Balcony", and Jiangnan Quinoa's "Blind" are all works in the "brain remnant" works that correspond to self-consistent theories and can stand the test of time.
And time is the white horse passing through the gap, how can it be counted, and there are several ups and downs in the world. The three of them retracted their gaze, the heavy rain stopped for a while, and even the sun, which had been hidden for many days, showed their faces like a scene. In a quiet and elegant atmosphere, a good poet can't help but explore: can there be a new bottle of old wine?
Now that artificial intelligence is in power, let's use this as a topic. Lao Dao analyzes the fixed attachment of obstacle writing to the hidden psychology of human beings, and dares to say that even if in the future, AI poetry writing catches up with humans, the unique expression of the handicap writer who goes to the other side of things will be the last human writer to compete with it.
He put forward the "emotional narrative" in his long-term poetry essay "The Nagging of the Old Knife", which is a step forward from the discussion of the inner poetic rhythm in the 24 poetic treatises of the famous poet Dai Wangshu in the 30s and 40s of the last century. If this concept is perfected, it will become a powerful branch of "obstacle writing".
Dian Qiu Gu brought a thick volume of his long and short poetry masterpieces ""A Model of Poetry of an Era" (among them, "Shouting" is not bad: I shouted loudly in the valley / I shouted / the valley responded / many people thought / the mountain was no longer silent / the mountain was woken up by the shouting // in fact, it was just the valley / buried the corpses of all the parrots). He interprets "handicap writing" as an umbrella concept, and the term "brain wreck" is more impactful.
Recently, he has become an online celebrity recitation of "podcasts", and he has become more and more aware of the artistic use of spiritual intuition, believing that he can create new works by following an endogenous path.
Different from Lao Dao's innovation of creative forms, Congee's understanding of obstacle writing still revolves around the creator's grasp of human finitude and the touch of the chaotic and unclear mental state, and it is necessary to preserve those precious moments for poetry. He recently read Professor Chen Xi's tome "The Sinicization of Western Symbolism" by Professor Chen Xi of Sun Yat-sen University, and learned the exploration of the concept of "intellectual poetry" by Bian Zhilin, Jin Kemu and others during the Republic of China. Wisdom in non-creative moments is an indispensable reliance on the deepening of the soul.
Even so, after a cursory look at the brain-dead version of the porridge-like long poem "Them", Dian Qiu said that the rational things in it were still not diluted enough. It can be seen that it is easier said than done.
2. Textual Fun
Next, the "Three Treasures" will make a detailed analysis of each other's typical works. First look -
Old Knife · The beauty of the fall
You can fly, but I'm going to fall
The fox's hunger is so perfect.
I leave you, I leave myself, I leave the preset track.
I'm going to fall all the way into your heart, the low high ground.
Make you think, let you come back to yourself,
Let you wrap me in muddy water,
Unraveled one by one.
From "you" to "me" to "fox", the chain of words is sliding. The tension between "flying" and "falling" can be understood, the "perfection" of "hunger" is abrupt, and whether "fox" is not an illusion of "me"?
Let's continue to say "I", "leaving you" can be solved, and "leaving yourself" breaks the norm. The mind returns to "falling", a singular "you" appears, and the increase of "low highland" proves that "you" is unusual in the mind of "me". The last two sentences are connected with two "lets" that are "I" prayer to you - I am at your mercy.
Looking back at the perfect hunger of the "fox", perhaps it is "I" full thirst for "you", willing to fight and enjoy it. The whole poem has a strong meaning and is difficult to convey. This extraordinary state of mind is an interpretation of how to write poetry on the other side of things.
Look again –
Dian Qiu Gu Wine · marriage
If, home is the head
Face is love
Hair meets wind
The wind is you
hat
and was blown off
I'll go with the wind
Recalling the dialogue between Sanbao and Dong Langzi's Writers' Association 11 years ago, he talked about the capture of the mentality of people who think and act "one tendon" by the brain-dead poet. The lyrical protagonist of this work is similar. Home-head, face-love, hair-wind-you, hat-me, a group of words come out of nowhere, the rationality between words is "I have the final say", and finally the "I" is far away in the imagination. So what does it have to do with the "marriage" in the title?
Marriage uses "home" to imply that the foundation of love is important, because it is a "face", but is it solid enough? The hat that represents "you" is blown by the wind, has it blown the "face"? "I" is gone away with the wind, and if the "face" follows, it will change greatly. The face has changed, this head is not the other, and the "marriage" is in jeopardy. The "you" that caused the accident is the whirring wind, the head guard - the hat of the guardian has been blown off, and the charm of "you" is not ordinary......
This is a playful poem (even reminiscent of some plays from the ancient Book of Songs), one of the many works that Dian Qiu gave him to his endless female poet friends, which he himself does not remember. That's why he said that poetry should be written first. Playing without moral evaluation, the meaning inside comes out.
At that time, Gu Cheng wrote a lot of erotic poems similar to fairy tales in his later period, and he pursued simplicity in structure. The gameplay in Dian Qiu's song, what do you want to say in your heart, because you can't say it directly because of the "brain damage", it is complicated to imagine such a related and jumping situation.
Three looks——
Porridge · toothache
The shower has been showered, the TV has been watched, and the materials for the dream are ready
But he couldn't sleep
The birds have sung, the road to work has been cleared, and the bills to be issued have been printed
But he didn't wake up
The poem is divided into two parts, each with three images and one result of rebellion. Why is this guy so unlucky, if the reader knows to read it in conjunction with the title, it will be "clear at a glance" - damn toothache. The six images are basically ordinary, and "the money is also printed" breaks the flat head and advances, leading to a little pitiful hope in the uneasiness of this toothache man.
From the three poems, I wonder if the reader can appreciate one of the spots of "obstacle writing". It is a very instantaneous wave of the heart, which may not set off any big waves, but it is a literary expression of human nature when it deviates from the ordinary road for reasons that are difficult to explain.
Poetry here is like comforting, like relief, or it doesn't have to be "like" anything, it is just a restless jump in the state of life.
The French absurdist drama Beckett is also a poet, and he has to scratch his head a lot to find fun in his eccentric poetic style, but in a well-written obstacle, it may not be so difficult.
Of course, this also requires more feelings and efforts from the "brain-dead" poets who are not afraid of the world's ridicule and recognize a path.
(Right to left: old knife, porridge, pawn qiu)