Princeton (1996)
Translated by David Hinton
Meng Chiao (751-814) wrote most of these experimental poems between 807-814. Late Poems is a radical and major work of deep introspection. Even though it was written over a thousand years ago, many of these poems read fresh and contemporary: Meng Chiao’s “symbolic expressions express what conventional language cannot articulate…which affront him new depths of insight into the objective world.” Meng wrote in desperate times, and his late poems are a powerful extension of TuFu.
Meng’s poems are longer than many of my other favorite Chinese poets. However, I found some lines beautiful, mind-pausing, relaxing and descriptively objective, prompting much contemplation.
“And when white clouds have no master,
They just drift off, idle thoughts carefree.”
* * *
“And once weeds close you in,
they’ll never open up again.”
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