不拘一格降文才, 讀方先生詩有感

不拘一格降文才

昨夜讀方先生 Deprivation （剝奪）  詩人通過描寫還沒見到綠的春天，雪還頑固不肯融化， 潮濕的骯髒的地面，還有洛陽牡丹節等等意象烘托主題。他回憶，想念與當年的軍校學生們一起的情景， 和學生們一起種植Sungua（我不知道是什麼，應該是一種植物）, 然後賣給食堂的情景。詩人著重回憶Zhou  Jianya，這個正直的高個子和一個政委，那時還少有不正之風，雖然有高官特別照顧女學員，給她們好工作，條件是她得做他兒媳婦。然後詩人提到現在已經被禁止的大字報和小字報，外國人對中國人的印象，詩人對一些較挑剔的學生的印象。 詩人層層遞進，然後從回憶里峰迴路轉，回到了現實中，以一句「I am not a Chinese. I am anonymous and shapeless. I do not exist」作全詩的結束語。詩人留給讀者的問題是：Deprivation，到底誰被誰剝奪了什麼？ 讀者發揮想象。 詩人對自己作品的評價：他說他開始是在寫詩，但後來就不像了，整首詩的靈感是被最後一句所激發的。我對這首詩的評論： 非常好，我喜歡你的風格。我說【草葉集】作者Walt Whiteman也是不拘一格的發揮才智，你也可以，甚至做得比他好。「I like your style.  I understand what you said.
Walt Whiteman was a poet abandoned the regular meter and rhyme patterns of his contemporaries. So do you. Even better.  The last line is interesting, quite ironic. You said that your are not a Chinese you are shapeless, you don't  exist, but in fact you are, everybody knows that you are a Chinese.  Obviously, this is just a writing technique, and your readers are impressed that you (the speaker) is not afraid of being deprived. 」   
               
        方先生原詩：            
"It is spring time and yet I see no green
The snow of last year stubbornly stays on
Wetting ground with dirty streams that in a storm
Turns into ice, just like the running nose of a kid
Who plays outside in deep winter

It is flower time in Luoyang, the peonies
Mingle with rural dust brought by peasants
Who swarm into parks, streets, buses and markets
Who find some time free from tending their fields
To enjoy the yearly peony fair with city people

I remember the first year there, we went to the King's Town Park
And took a picture under a pine, the whole class, 23 cadets I guess
Not knowing later, some will be in north America
Burying their memories into the strife and struggle for life
Carving out a new niche in this capitalist world
In New York, in Toronto, in California. in Harvard, in maritime Canada
Linked by e-mail and the same native land where our ancestors
Ploughed and fought

We ploughed too, though not with cattle, and planted "Sungua"
That we sold to the cadets canteen at 3 cents a jin(500g)
We watered our common filed, from a centrally managed electric well
And we brought manure to the fields, pulling the two-wheeled cart

Zhou  Jianya was our platoon leader, a nice soldier, a good man
A rare piece of antiquity if in today's China, at least not corrupted
I miss him a lot and the political commissar, the tall, upright guy
We heard rarely backdoor then, though someone higher in rank
Did try to give a female cadet better job, if she should marry his son
And  got exposed by her classmates, with a big-character poster

Such posters are banned now by the law, THE LAW
Because they are too democratic in a country where
Public speech  is beautifully regulated, even a lost-and-found
Note, With some cartoonist tone of complain, can be termed as
Small-character poster. I miss big-character-posters, man

It seems however, most Chinese who were revolutionary
Are acquiescent abroad, Never care about what's going on around
Students, some, are critical, but only of a far-away opponent,
Advocating from a safe distance, something impressive
That can bring history to their names which they make sure
To appear before others in conference news

I am not a Chinese. I am anonymous and shapeless. I do not exist

說明：

When I wrote the poem, I started like I am writing a poem and then my
thoughts drifted. All that goes on is triggered by the last line of
the previous stanza. I knew structurally speaking it is not poem at
all. I recalled old days in the army and sent the poem to a former
classmate in California.  "


天公精神重抖擻，不拘一格降文才。方先生才思敏捷，倚馬揮毫，好詩！小曼不才，可能理解不透（譬如小字報的作用。這些具有時代特色的東西跟Lost And Found，我聯繫不上，難道丟失東西也要寫個大字報？Anyway，先這樣）

P.S.今天早上起來后打開電腦，看到方先生在越華寫作室高歌一曲I have an appointment with the grassland，我靈機一動，自作聰明留了一句，我說方先生應該把Grassland改成Girlfriend（壓了頭韻和未韻），這樣就變成：我和我女友有個約會， 並祝他新年桃花好運（現在全世界的越華才女美女們都讀懂了我的話。方先生有麻煩了。）

 

方壺齋教授名詩【題越南美女圖】在越華文壇名噪一時：

https://big5.backchina.com/blog/358517/article-241338.html

Feb.18,2016.
文/劉小曼 (匆匆）