At the Sky's Edge: Poems, 1991-1996
At the Sky's Edge combines in a single bilingual paperback volume two essential works by one of the world's finest contemporary poets. In his first retrospective volume of poetry in English, two of Bei Dao's previous books—Forms of Distance (1994) and Landscape Over Zero (1996)—are gathered together in one bilingual paperback edition. At The Sky's Edge: Poems 1991-1996 marks a pivotal point in the poet's oeuvre, presenting the increasingly lyrical, meditative poems written in the years...
Search in google:
At the Sky's Edge combines in a single bilingual paperback volume two essential works by one of the world's finest contemporary poets. In his first retrospective volume of poetry in English, two of Bei Dao's previous books—Forms of Distance (1994) and Landscape Over Zero (1996)—are gathered together in one bilingual paperback edition. At The Sky's Edge: Poems 1991-1996 marks a pivotal point in the poet's oeuvre, presenting the increasingly lyrical, meditative poems written in the years following his banishment from China in 1989. Translated into twenty-five languages, Bei Dao's work has long been appreciated internationally, but is just recently gaining a larger audience in the US. At The Sky's Edge becomes Bei Dao's seventh book published by New Directions and is the first time Forms of Distance appears in a paperback edition. The translations of David Hinton, who was awarded the prestigious Harold Morton Landon Translation Award from The Academy of American Poets in 1997, capture both the musicality and density of the original Chinese. Quiet, spare, these are poems of paradox and possibility, of words carefully balanced, of a world on edge.Author Biography: Bei Dao's most recent books are Unlock (New Directions), and a collection of essays, Blue House (Zephyr Press).Nate JohnsonThe poems [in Forms of Distance] are distinctly alive. ... In any language, this is poetry of a high order. —Chicago Tribune
\ \ \ Chapter One\ \ \ YEAR'S END\ \ \ from the year's beginning to its end\ I've walked through countless years\ time bending as a bow\ shoes of those who've retired scattered\ dust of the private\ litter of the public\ it's been a perfectly normal year\ my sledgehammer sits idle, and yet\ borrowing the light of the future\ I glimpse that metric standard in platinum\ here on the anvil\ \ \ ABSENT\ \ \ vast winds commanding hostile flags\ Venus fills all four directions with its lone cry\ love and hate bit into the same apple\ and now it's the age for climbing ladders\ it's the pipe-dream of national renaissance\ heroes occupying night skies raise their arms high\ clowns in a mirror doing bandstands on asphalt\ I close the door parole proffers\ refuse all those witnesses to the future\ these moments are mine to savor dignity in solitude\ fire of the venture\ ash of the unfamiliar\ \ \ BRASS OF A SUMMER'S DAY\ \ \ lone son born of rumor\ sits atop flower wreaths of contraception:\ hearing brass of a summer's day\ soldiers on the march\ come along streets of rust:\ watching brass of a summer's day\ deep ax cuts on trees\ smile fascinated forever:\ eating brass of a summer's day\ \ \ MIDNIGHTSINGER\ \ \ a song\ is a thief who's fled across rooftops\ getting away with six colors\ and leaving the red hour-hand\ on 4 o'clock heaven\ 4 o'clock detonates\ in the rooster's head\ and it's 4 o'clock delirium\ a song\ is an ever hostile tree\ beyond the border\ it unleashes that promise\ that wolf-pack feeding on tomorrow\ a song\ is a mirror that knows the body by heart\ is the emperor of memory\ is the flame spoken by\ waxen tongues\ is the flower garden nurtured by myth\ is a steam locomotive\ bursting into the church
ForewordYear's End3Absent5Brass of a Summer's Day7Midnight Singer9Advertising11Autumn World in Turmoil13Beyond15For T. Transformer17Corridor19Afternoon Notes21Playwright23Lament25Apple and Brute Stone27Empty City29Bridge31Exit31A State of War33Untitled35Eastern Traveler37Forlorn39Night Patrol41Toxin43Records45At the Sky's Edge47Other than Tomorrow49Awakening51Sower53Farewell Words55Landscape57A New Century59Asking the Sky61Headlong Night63Allegiance65Untitled67Andante69Folding Procedure73Encounter75Flash77A Guide to Summer79Musical Variations81A Portrait83Pastoral85On Eternity87Translator's Note89Arrival93Another95Blue Wall97Creation99Perfect101Background103Untitled105This Day107February109Progress111we113Showing Up115On the Wrong Road117Bright Mirror119Morning121Untitled123Novice125Seeing Double127Realm129A Far as I Know131Theme135Nightwatch137Untitled139Untitled141Night143Purple145A Day in the Mountains147Untitled149Old Places151Outsider153The Next Tree155For the Purpose of157Untitled159Insomnia161Landscape Over Zero163Story165Asymmetry167Wax169Keyword171Untitled173The Long View175Borders177Borrowing a DirectNew Year181Untitled183Winter Travels185deny187Rest189Work191Journey193Index of titles and first lines in English194
\ Nate JohnsonThe poems [in Forms of Distance] are distinctly alive. ... In any language, this is poetry of a high order. —Chicago Tribune\ \
