Ma Yongbo

A DREAM AT THE BEGINNING OF WINTER

The broad leaves of the sycamore tree fall onto the small car,

once all the leaves have fallen, the car’s colour turns white,

receiving signals from the stars of the departed,

causing the dashboard to flicker in the darkened interior.

For many days, my elder sister and I

have been repairing a large stove in the courtyard,

Spring Festival is near, it seems many guests are coming to eat.

After a long time, my mother finally returns,

and I, like many Chinese, shyly go to hug her.

She is still small, her blue coat dusted with snow,

I brush it off with my hat, and as I do, it melts,

leaving her blue cotton jacket mottled with stains.

She says nothing, her face calm and solemn.

Where has she been? It seems something remains unresolved.

And often, late at night, returning home,

passing the small car beneath the sycamore tree,

I can still feel the metal’s lingering warmth,

like the body of a lover who has just calmed down.

Ma Yongbo was born in 1964, Ph.D, representative of Chinese avant-garde poetry, and a leading scholar in Anglo-American poetry. He is the founder of polyphonic writing and objectified poetics. He is also the first translator to introduce British and American postmodern poetry into Chinese.

He has published over eighty original works and translations since 1986, including 9 poetry collections. He focused on translating and teaching Anglo-American poetry and prose, including the work of Dickinson, Whitman, Stevens, Pound, Williams, and Ashbery. He recently published a complete translation of Moby Dick, which has sold over 600,000 copies. He teaches at Nanjing University of Science and Technology. The Collected Poems of Ma Yongbo (four volumes, Eastern Publishing Centre, 2024), comprising 1178 poems, celebrates 40 years of writing poetry. 

His work is widely published in international journals such as New American Writing， Livemag, Cafe Review, International Times, Vox Populi, Ink Sweat and Tears, Orbis, Cambridge Poetry,  Polismagazino.gr, europeanpoetry.com, Verse-Virtual.org, Magique Publishing, Primelore.com, Verseum Literary, Area Felix， Masticadoresusa， Feed the Holy ，ONE, Sindhcourier ，Lingo Lexicon， Worldinkers ，Avantappalachia ，Masticadorescanada， Madswirl ，Collaborature ，Allyourpoems ，Homouniversalisgr，100subtextsmagazine， Pandemoniumjournal ，Cultural Reverence， Rochford Street Review， Synchchaos， Ezra， Autumn Sky Poetry Daily， Nuthatchmag， Posit ，Yumpu ，Our Poetry Archive， All Your Poems ，Subliminal.surgery， Atunis， Insightmagazine， Lothlorien Poetry Journal ，Acheron，Gorkogazette，A Too Powerful Word，Chiron Review，Gas，Chewers，Medusaskitchen，Beatnikcowboy，Dear O Deer!，New Black Bart Poetry Society, Edge of Humanity ，Liveencounters， Big Other etc.