By LUCY HAMILTON.
Under A Blazing April Sun
The six unbroken yang lines of this hexagram
represent Heaven| the purest energy
and I’m reminded of Mr Zhi at Bai Xu Kiln
showing us his ancient hometown village
under a blazing April sun| escorting us
around old landowner houses he’d bought
to restore| to fulfil his dream of initiating
an artists’ cooperative| to lure the young folk
home from cities with the promise of work
and a pride in preserving their local heritage
The oracle-bone etching shows a shoot of grass
above the sun| with the root of a plant below
and we watched with his sculptor-wife and daughter
as he inscribed our porcelain bowls in calligraphy
his face not telling of his fame and following
only of the twenty resolute years in Beijing
Qian • Initiating
♦
Rebirth
I
The ancient I Ching concept of genesis is thunder and clouds
the sacred breath is the presage of storm before the action
of water feeds the latent seed| It has gathered life-force
all winter and now| as portrayed in this ideograph’s
tender image| breaks through the pressure of surrounding soil
and with a whole-hearted impulse like desire grows into a shoot
And I think of my first and longed-for Chinese venture
when despite my efforts everything felt confused and scattered
II
Unpacking in Chengdu| I searched for my tiny Buddha amulet
the way Proust kissed his agate marble to invoke his beloved’s heart
I conjured him as if nursing an injured bird even as instinct told me
to trust that he’d appear once my jet-addled brain had cleared
I thought of the fires my twin had witnessed in Australia
the rejoicing when life burgeoned again| Now the New Year
and my Chinese friends tell me there’s a re-assessment of values
at grass-roots| For as a seed sprouts a mother’s waters break
Zhun • Beginning
♦
Loved Ones Mummified in Mud
I
We were hurtling at terrifying speed on roads awash
with river flood and debris| visibility worsening
with each hairpin turn until Oscar from Santiago
and Guillermo from Buenos Aires beseeched the driver
to slow down and keep in lane| The structure of this sign
with Mountain above and Earth below symbolises
a falling away| as in landslide or avalanche or in human
terms the process of a collapsing politico-moral system
II
Today in Brazil they’re still counting the missing and dead
the bereaved of Brumadinho beside themselves with grief
and rage as loved ones are excavated mummified in mud
For any country’s next catastrophy| they laid that place
waste and turned back| the beauty of this ancient ideoogram
is a double-edged knife and sword| When the influence
of yin declines| yang grows like the moon’s waxing
and waning| but the tool depends on the hand that wields1
Bo • Falling Away
♦
Releasing the Bow-String in Pouring Rain
The key is in seeking harmony
I
The ancient oracle bone etching on the left of this ideograph
still means eye today| Within the whole symbol it represents
people’s distinct fields of vision| while the image on the right
of an arrow passing between the backs of a pair of hands
signifies inclusion and similarity within difference| It reflects
the dynamic of experience I’m gaining outside my native country
as writer and editor in a time-flash of the present in a fragment
of this immense nation’s whole| A gift of generosity and trust
II
En route in torrential rain to the Zhaojue mountains in Sichuan
we stop at a Centre for the Practice of Archery| A quiver full
of shafts stands upright in a puddle| I draw my bow-string as far
as I can before releasing the arrow which scores between two rings
Next day lunching in the sunny foothills| local men fry us chunks
of succulent pork and duck in cauldrons placed above coke fires
Responding to my delight| a woman whispers Yes we love our country
but not our prisons| and I freely confide that I’m ashamed of mine
Kui • Diversity
♦
The Wide-Brimmed Straw Hat
I
As hens preened in the cooperative’s yard a farmer appeared
from a barn| Nî hăo I said and he let me take a photo
as he shifted his awkward load squinting under his wide-
brimmed straw hat| Xièxiè I said bowing my head
unaware of this hexagram| that it represents Fire above
Heaven| symbolises the sun radiating heat and light
to myriad beings on Earth| A sign of prosperity
and abundance in the spirit of seeking harmony
II
And the upper pictogram of a human being signifies
‘great man’ while the image of a hand above a moon
three fingers in the act of grasping the moon reveals
the transitory nature of possessions and pride and greed
I was staggered by the size| unwieldy bundles of hemp
the farmer clenched under each arm| scales of balance
for equal sharing| An air of hope as I strolled| The scent
of orange| Pairs of blue overalls pegged arm-to-arm on a line2
Da You • Great Harvest
♦
Lucy Hamilton works freelance for Cam Rivers Publishing (a partnership between UK and China based at King’s College, Cambridge), and has enjoyed several trips to China. She has two books with Shearsman and is currently working on a collection which draws upon her experiences in China, and on the I Ching.
Sophie (Jianghong) Song (calligraphy) was born and grew up in China. She worked as public relations coordinator in Xiamen University and had a part time job as radio presenter in Xiamen Economic and Transportation Station. She now works for Cam Rivers Publishing, and lives in Cambridge with her husband and two children.
NOTES.
