Chen Kehua

Saw Chen Kehua (陳克華) at a lecture at Shida recently. He's an interesting fellow, relatively young, a doctor by profession, and openly gay. I won't try to describe the lecture, 'cause I think it'd be hard to describe well why I liked it. Basically though, he was extremely blunt, about many things (including that few in the class had read his work) and it was great. He has a website that is Web 1.0 in the best way. Here's a quick shot at a poem. Though it's relatively simple, I found it pretty hard to translate actually, and the original I think is not quite as "floofy" or "out-there" as maybe my translation is. Does that make any sense? Related notes, the "unbright" in the title has some pretty strong Buddhist implications in the original, and in fact is literally the translation of the word Avidya. Hopefully that factoid will be somewhat enlightening. Okay.

無明之淚 活著　忽而有淚 像與夢有約　但夢終究缺席 我可以遺忘那夢　但失落仍在 我懷抱這失落　於人間求其次 再其次其次其次　其次－－活著 就忽而有淚　但忘了淚的理由 像隱隱明白生　生的侷限與徒然 又毫不明白生　身在此生的茫然與盲點 只是忽而有淚　人間之淚 落在夢的夜空　比黑暗更虛無 比星光更 迫切。 unbright tears alive          and suddenly with tears image and dream arrange to meet          but dream doesn’t show I can forget that dream          but loss still remains I cherish, I hold this loss          as the human world seeks the next and the next the next the next          the next  -- alive so, suddenly with tears          but tears’ cause forgotten as though faintly understanding life          life’s boundary and futility then understanding not at all          body in this life’s vast and blind spot just suddenly with tears          tears of the human world falling in dream’s night sky         than darkness more empty than starlight more urgent.