Who Lied About Snow: Poems by Ni Zhange

Since the publication of her previous collection, "Sea of White Blades," Ni Zhange has continued her poetic explorations. Formally, she has brought a new atmosphere and rhythm to Chinese poetry, while her freely connected and traversing style of expression reveals a chilling insight. "Who Lied About Snow" primarily compiles her poetry from the past three years, encompassing nine collections: "Love's Desire," "Tai Chi Gives Birth to Two Principles," "Eternal Frozen Ground," "Songs of Cyberpro," "Spring and Autumn Dew," and "Abandoning Human Desires, Preserving Heavenly Principles." The poet confronts the abyss of life and the subtleties of worldly affairs, examining the tumult of the times and the vainness of human nature.
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The world vision, mysterious temperament, and sensitivity of Ni Zhange's poetry... amaze and amaze everyone who reads it. For example, suddenly, through a line of her poem, I would think of a climax scene in the movie Spirited Away; the richness and originality of Ni Zhange's poetry writing skills (including themes) are unparalleled among contemporary poets. Fett from Chicago, Buddha from Myanmar... all come into her hands.
The poetry of Bai Huazhan Ge, a professor at Southwest Jiaotong University and a renowned poet, has a way of knocking you off your feet. It's strikingly direct yet uncertain, and its imagery is eerily eerie. While seemingly neat and coherent, it holds within it something incredibly powerful. It's what Borges called the "Aleph," incredibly condensed yet rife with contradictions. Her poetry, like that of a genre, has developed a unique, rapidly progressing style. Starting with a core yet subtle image, it unleashes its power, triggering the oscillation and deformation of a vast space-time. This kind of orchestration of imagery and tempo requires a sophisticated level of control.
—Hu Xudong, Associate Professor at Peking University and renowned poet Ni Zhange lives in the United States, outside her native language, yet her poetry is not as outdated, ineffective, or out of control as the language of some overseas Chinese-speaking poets. Her language possesses a mysterious fission, a strong sense of self, and a rhythm that leaps out of jazz. The Chinese language imaginings in her poetry surge with a limpid wonder, sometimes unnoticed, a realization. The past and the future, reality and change, are always near and far from poetry, but Ni Zhange creates a multifaceted and unconventional context through the layering of imagery. Good poetry is like a gentle raindrop from heaven, the words suspended in mid-air, with the force of lightning. The speed and direction of its descent are unpredictable, but ultimately it carries the soul's understanding and acceptance of the world.
——Huang Lihai, editor-in-chief of Poetry and People and Chinese and Western Poetry

2018-10-01

雅众文化 / 上海三联书店

Yazhong Culture

208

9787542662958