First Mountain

by Er Zhang, Joseph Donahue (Translator)

Overview

The poet travels from her home in the United States to her ancestral village in Shanxi province to bury the ashes of her paternal grandparents in a ritual lasting several days. The narrative arc of the story movingly explores death and life, a multi-branched and multi-generational clan, and ancient and modern belief systems, as it moves toward a tragic climax. First Mountain is Zhang Er’s third book to be published by Zephyr Press, and includes an introduction about the collaborative process between Zhang Er and Joseph Donahue to render the book into English.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781938890932
Publisher:	Zephyr Press
Publication date:	08/28/2018
Pages:	329
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	16 Years

About the Author

JOSEPH DONAHUE is an American poet, critic, and editor. Donahue was born in Dallas, Texas and grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts. He attended Dartmouth College for his undergraduate degree, received his doctorate at Columbia University, and lived for many years in New York City. He now resides in Durham, North Carolina, where teaches at Duke University. The third volume in Joseph Donahue's ongoing poem Terra Lucida, entitled Dark Church, was published by Verge Books in 2015. Other recent titles include Red Flash on a Black Field and Dissolves.

ZHANG ER, a poet born in Beijing, is the author of multiple books of poetry in Chinese. Verses on Bird and So Translating Rivers and Cities are two bilingual collections (Chinese/English) published by Zephyr Press, and she has also published a number of chapbooks in English translation. She co-edited Another Kind of Nation: An Anthology of Contemporary Chinese Poetry, published by Talisman House Publishers in 2007. She is married to the American poet Leonard Schwartz and they live in the Pacific Northwest with their daughter Cleo. She is a professor at The Evergreen State College, WA.

Read an Excerpt

PRELUDE (section title) 1. Turn on a light. Illumine my dream with more than just bright anticipation . . . a road branches a window . . . mountains hang on the wall maddening, meticulous Every tree, a bright thread, every fold, pure silk pinch of fingers, a needle nonetheless we arrive sky-high village, a century old. In the yards, hundred year old voices, and Chinese scholar trees (Sophora) a hundred year old lotus demure as a bride's bound feet . . . Times held to be dead return, but in flames . . . See, an on-line vagina, See, internet masturbation See, severe events and fate await me blue-grey brick up to sky, blue-grey stone, paving the yard long, embroidered sleeves, cambric vest the trim of the skirt, months of a bride's time . . . See, a moment, see, a marriage of seventy years. Is this the light of life, is this the sacrament that lets you live, that lets you die? Watch them, the man and the woman. Each takes the end of a strip of red satin. A marriage ritual. Walking down the slope, walking up the slope. Kneel down: Heaven Earth Ghosts Gods Father Mother Mountain A mountain to the south devours the light. Maddening: over the bride's eyes, a red scarf Blind yourself to the four directions. Turn around, turn around only then do you see in front of the mountain, the river. Turn, you're turning, the river is flowing Old Yard at dusk: long shadows, undesired moods. We follow Fifth Brother. * Thick wall, high wall, no window, it would be better to just let go of our embarrassing nostalgia . . . * In the photo you're alone corner of the wall, top of the gate, like faint characters that are carved in stone of our delicate ancestors. Grey-blue bricks, all the way up. A two story building two entrances and a double courtyard. The light darkens. Darkness spills from the attics. There's no light left to skim the pages of your fathers well-thumbed preschool book. Two Brides Many years have passed. I can recognize your bones: bleached face thin like my husband, bleached face helping me buy the train ticket, saying I've changed, leading me into a grand hall is this an occasion for celebration? It seems to be my wedding (!) A voice shouts: "Make-up!" A leopard skin bag is placed on my head as if it were a hat (if this is to be carried on my shoulder shouldn't it fit a bit better?) "Light! camera!" Dazzle of ceiling light (you are still the director) then we see a bride in white ringed by a crowd and you you stand next to me you and you and you I don't recognize you I don't recognize the bright window of morning

Table of Contents

Table of Contents 1. Forward to English readers by Zhang Er 2. Prelude: 9 poems 3. Travel West: 5 poems 4. Into the Home Village: 7 poems 5. The Funeral Procession : 7 poems 6. Round the Tomb: Return on the Third: 20 poems 7. Wu Tai Mountains: 5 poems