Mountain verse from China
by Luo Ying, translated by Denis Mair (White Pine Press, Nov. 2020)
“It was Gary Snyder’s short 1965 book of poetry, Riprap,” writes Jonathan Stalling in the introduction to 7+2: A Mountain Climber’s Journal, “where English readers gained access to something close to mountaineering poetry. It is not a coincidence that Snyder’s work arises from melding of his own upbringing among the Mazamas mountain range in Oregon with the Buddhist poetics of Han Shan, whose work appears in translation in the same volume. Taken together with the pioneering English translations from Arthur Waley to contemporary translators like David Hinton, English readers have become more familiar with the cosmological mountain poetics of China and, little by little, English has taken its first steps into writing its own mountain verse.”
Stalling explains that the title of this collection refers to the climbing the seven highest peaks on the seven continents plus the two Poles, by foot. “Huang Nubo, pen-named Luo Ying, is the first poet to do so, and his mountaineering poetry explores these experiences in real time, revealing connections between the socio-cultural, political, economic, and modern spiritual complexities that undergird such experiences.”
With permission from the publisher, we offer you these three examples of mountain verse from this recently released volume.
SUMMITING ON VINSON MASSIF
I’ve seen the underside of the world
Snow-white and pale gray to the edge of vision
Swirls of wind blow from crevices
No place to hide nowhere to evade
It would be nice if the world had such an underside
Not like the ball of murkiness we deal with now
Viewing all corners of creation from the summit
Such icy, piercing beauty robs me of speech
Just stand here not presuming to surpass it
We’re only vulgar lumps of flesh
With our suffering souls we may show up anywhere
But can never surpass so many meters of pure altitude
May wind and snow bury my footprints instantly
Like lightning that blanks out the last few stars
Vinson Massif in this lifetime I dare not look back
2010-01-05, 21:35 / Camp tent, back from summit
FEAR OF BOUNDLESSNESS
Fearsomely boundless
Dread wells up from the bottom of your heart
Feeling like a person spurned by mankind
On this ice sheet you even wish for houseflies
Not much use in looking all around you
In all directions you see straight to the horizon
Clouds steal up soundlessly above
As if ready to pounce and swallow you
Your walking makes eerie crunching sounds
Like words addressed to someone far away
Beneath the sun you stop and look for him
The whole scene stares back at you in silence
Your yelling sounds die away in a flash
As if gobbled up by a giant beast
You conclude that you are that beast
Nothing under the sun but your shadow watches
2009-12-18, 9:18 / Patriot Hills Camp tent
HUMAN REMAINS ON THE MOUNTAIN
The glacier has been melting
You might find body parts anywhere
Horrified as I raise a femur
I hear its owner gasp in pain
To sleep for decades under the glacier
Is the optimum outcome of a climbing disaster
They’ve evaded the depredations of crows
Today they appear in grisly form
Goggles on a skull still keep out UV Light
A safety belt is still fastened around a pelvis
From high on the peak they’ve made it to base camp
Their decades-long return trip must have been agonizing
Back to where prayer flags are fluttering
And climbing teams are setting out for the peak
2010-06-09, 17:04 / Chomo Peak Base Camp