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[Throughout 2018, we have committed to publishing a selection of poems from each month of Ian Boyden’s manuscript “A Forest of Names.” Over the course of a year, Boyden translated the 5,196 names of schoolchildren crushed in the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake. He then began a collection of poems, each written on the day of each child’s birth. An in-depth discussion of these poems can be read in “Fault Line: An Introduction to A Forest of Names.” —Eds.]
Detail from Ai Weiwei: Fault Line. In the foreground are marble replica of twisted iron rebar pulled from one of the schools that collapsed in the Sichuan Earthquake (Rebar and Case, 2014). In the background is the wall covered with the list of 5,196 names of schoolchildren killed in earthquake. Photograph by Ian Boyden.
DECEMBER 1
正函 Just Correspondence
The tongue like a bow.
Even after a thousand years, words chosen carefully still hit their mark.
DECEMBER 2
雪庭 Snow Courtyard
The hand of snow upon the gavel. A white sentence under a dark sky beyond innocence and guilt.
DECEMBER 4
瑩玲 Lustrous Ringing
Green fire of stone cup, wine of translucent earth, our chests tighten on the simplest words.
DECEMBER 5
揚帆 Unfurled Sail
He hoisted the sail to find a golden hand waving from sun-filled water.
DECEMBER 9
冬玲 Winter Ringing
The earth rows its boat around the sun, striking the drum of winter, its wake deafening white.
DECEMBER 10
普霞 Red-Washed Sky
We think the cloud is the body, but it is the rain that feeds the roots of sleep.
DECEMBER 11
翠玉 Kingfisher Jade
On the branch above the river the winged-stone waits to fall into the scaled-stone dreaming of flight.
DECEMBER 12
馮艷 Galloping Beauty
Blooms in a handful of dust the color of running horses.
DECEMBER 13
彬航 Refined Boat
The helmsman wanders the forest, following oar marks on moss-covered ground.
DECEMBER 15
菲 Fragrant Radish
It grew with such delight, red heart of soil, its roots tangled in the broken wings of a bird.
DECEMBER 22
柯岑 Axe Handle Hill
Where the mountain balanced on the crest of a moment, his name branched into the possible.
DECEMBER 23
吳愁 Anxiety
“No Worry!” they called. “No Worry!” Still, autumn rides the heart with winter in her arms.
DECEMBER 24
光磊 Luminous Pile of Stones
Our names hewn of sound.
He struck the ancient chimes with arms of unearthly fire.
DECEMBER 25
代揚 Dynastic Scatter
The dandelion’s silver floats on our breath, each flower a measure of the sun-tossing hand.
DECEMBER 31
全波 Complete Wave
When at last he opened his eyes, they saw the undulating jade of a new year.
Read more from Ian Boyden’s “A Forest of Names” in the following links:
“Introduction to ‘A Forest of Names'”
A Forest of Names — January selections
A Forest of Names — February selections
A Forest of Names — March selections
A Forest of Names — April selections
A Forest of Names — May selections
A Forest of Names — June selections
A Forest of Names — July selections
A Forest of Names — August selections
A Forest of Names — September selections
A Forest of Names — October selections
A Forest of Names — November selections
“Fragile as an Urn: An Interview with Ian Boyden”
« A Forest of Names (November) by Ian Boyden | The Empty Hand of the Wind »