Jewish boys smuggling food through the
Warsaw Ghetto wall (Jewish Virtual Library)
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Three Jewish Boys Write to an Ancient Chinese Poet by Judd Teller translated by Dror Abend-David Li-T’ai-Pe, three Jewish boys take the liberty of greeting you. They discussed your poem as the sun set over the Nalevki, in Warsaw. Strange light caressed the remains of ruined castles; a coachman swayed in his seat; and students squeezed out of the taverns. A Jew clutched her hands and faded into a shadow in a door. Like a lost bird – between two walls fluttered a beard. Tender shine warmed up the old ruins and a distant moon flickered like a ringlet in a pirate’s ear. To be sure, the Vistula was filled with evening’s underbrush of streams and leaves. The boys would have merely wished to ask that you would add two lines of fear to the sunset. |
Dray yidishe yinglekh shraybn tsu an altn khinezishn poet Li-tay-pe, dray yidishe yinglekh lozn zikh grisn. Zey hobn geredt fun dayn lid haynt bay zunfargang af di varshever nalevkes. Oysterlish likht hot geloshtshet di gezimsn fun khorove shleser, a furman hot gehoydet af der kelnye un studentn hobn geshport fun der shenkgas. A yidene hot farpatshet di hent un zikh arayn geshotent in a toyer. Vi a farblodzsheter foygl – hot tsiveshn tsvey moyern geflotert a bord. Tserte shayn hot gevaremt di gezimsn. A vayte levone hot gefinklt vi a rayfl bay a pirat in oyer. Mistome hot di Vaysl ful geven Mit ovntikn roysh fun shtrom un bleter. Di yinglekh voltn bloyz gevolt du zolst tsushraybn tsvey shures shrek tsu der shkie. |
דריי יידישע יינגלעך שרייבן צו אן אלטן כינעזישן פאעט לי-טאי-פע, דריי יידישע יינגלעך לאזן זיך גריסן. זיי האבן גערעדט פון דיין ליד היינט ביי זונפארגאנג אויף די ווארשעווער נאלעווקעס. אויסטערליש ליכט האט געלאשטשעט די געזימסן פון חרובע שלעסער, א פורמאן האט זיך גהוידעט אויף דער קעלניע און סטודענטן האבן געשפארט פון דער שענקגאס. א יידענע האט פארפאטשט די הענט אוך זיך אריינגעשאטנט אין א טויער. ווי א פארבלאנדזשעטער פויגל – האט צווישן צוויי מויערן געפלאטערט א בארד. צארטע שיין הוא געווארעמט די געזימסן. א ווייטע לבנה האט געפינקלט ווי א רייפל ביי א פיראט אין אויער. מסתמא האט די ווייסל פול געווען מיט אוונטיקן רויש פון שטראם און בלעטער. די יינגלעך וואלטן בלויז געוואלט דו זאלסט צושרייבן צוויי שורות שרעק צו דער שקיעה. |
Notes by translator, Dror Abend-David:
Judd Teller, a Modernist who was very familiar with the works of other early Modern American poets, responds in this poem both to Ezra Pound’s great interest in ancient Chinese Poetry, and to Pound’s treatise on poetry, as it is phrased by Pound’s colleague and linguist, Ernest Fenollosa. Fenollosa’s article, “The Chinese Written Character as a Medium for Poetry,” which was published and edited by Ezra Pound in 1918, lays out the basis for a modern poetry that consists of “strong verbs” and “concrete metaphors” –- a poetry that avoids the abstraction of infinitives, and which transcends the boundaries that are created by the inflexible assignment of speech parts in Western Grammar. The article calls for the preference transitive to intransitive verbs, the avoidance of negations, and the adoption of objective, rather than subjective point of views. As an example, the article presents the sentence “Farmer pounds rice,” arguing against the essential relation of subjugation between the farmer and the rice, and presenting all three participants: the farmer, the rice, and the poet (Pound) who mitigates between the two, as equal participants within the ongoing processes of the universe.
Teller applies these principles to his poem, but finally subverts them. The further he uses ‘direct,’ ‘transitive,’ and ‘positive’ verbs, the further it is clear that the ‘democratic’ reading of the sentence, “Farmer pounds rice,” is impossible when one writes “as rice,” from the point of view of the one who is being beaten. Teller demonstrates the injustice that is laid in the ‘democratic’ portrayal of subject and object, which erases the power relation that exists between the two. In doing so, he points out to a certain moral insensitivity in a discourse of ‘powerful’ poetry, which does not take into account the impact of such power. And, writing from the point of view of ‘pounded rice,’ Teller is perhaps able to point out an early stage in a process of transcending ‘conventional norms’ that takes Pound from the peaceful Cathay to the seemingly inexplicable hate-speech of his radio broadcasts during the Second World War.
Further Reading:
Ernest Fenollosa, The Chinese Written Character as a Medium for Poetry, Ed. Ezra Pound, San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1918
Notes by translator, Dror Abend-David:
Judd Teller, a Modernist who was very familiar with the works of other early Modern American poets, responds in this poem both to Ezra Pound’s great interest in ancient Chinese Poetry, and to Pound’s treatise on poetry, as it is phrased by Pound’s colleague and linguist, Ernest Fenollosa. Fenollosa’s article, “The Chinese Written Character as a Medium for Poetry,” which was published and edited by Ezra Pound in 1918, lays out the basis for a modern poetry that consists of “strong verbs” and “concrete metaphors” –- a poetry that avoids the abstraction of infinitives, and which transcends the boundaries that are created by the inflexible assignment of speech parts in Western Grammar. The article calls for the preference transitive to intransitive verbs, the avoidance of negations, and the adoption of objective, rather than subjective point of views. As an example, the article presents the sentence “Farmer pounds rice,” arguing against the essential relation of subjugation between the farmer and the rice, and presenting all three participants: the farmer, the rice, and the poet (Pound) who mitigates between the two, as equal participants within the ongoing processes of the universe.
Teller applies these principles to his poem, but finally subverts them. The further he uses ‘direct,’ ‘transitive,’ and ‘positive’ verbs, the further it is clear that the ‘democratic’ reading of the sentence, “Farmer pounds rice,” is impossible when one writes “as rice,” from the point of view of the one who is being beaten. Teller demonstrates the injustice that is laid in the ‘democratic’ portrayal of subject and object, which erases the power relation that exists between the two. In doing so, he points out to a certain moral insensitivity in a discourse of ‘powerful’ poetry, which does not take into account the impact of such power. And, writing from the point of view of ‘pounded rice,’ Teller is perhaps able to point out an early stage in a process of transcending ‘conventional norms’ that takes Pound from the peaceful Cathay to the seemingly inexplicable hate-speech of his radio broadcasts during the Second World War.
Further Reading:
Ernest Fenollosa, The Chinese Written Character as a Medium for Poetry, Ed. Ezra Pound, San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1918
