Bach and Bat | 巴赫與蝙蝠

"I read what seduces me, I write what perverts me. "

- Heather Cai -

a poem to paint the catastrophic gloom of 2020

一首绘出2020年灾难性的忧郁之诗

--- Published by ASPZ, 2020.5 | 由“上海詩歌雜志”出版

---Chinese Swipe Left | 左滑中文---

Bach and Bat

Gold sunshine brightens the roofs

Cold wind chills my neck

Roads open to the empty directions

Bach fills my ears with toccatas and fugues

But who stops me from chasing the sun

Blue sky embraces the morning of hope

Gloomy walls lock the views from my eyes

Fools shut the window tight for the old air

Bach refreshes my mind with crisp lively tones

But who blocks the highway to paradise

Calm oceans bury many dark secrets

Distant jungles moan in the fire and steal my peace

Animals struggle on treetops for their last breath

Bach soothes my heart with rhythms of the waves

But who is to blame for all those deaths

Dizzy media sweep through the house of boredom

Busy hands track restlessly on news of tension and fear

Children are protected from their schools  

Bach hits my soul with purple agonies

But who scares dear friends to dine alone

I’d laugh If nature is so kind you have to burn

I’d laugh if the country is so peaceful you have to kill

I’d laugh if life is so boring you have to make troubles

But would I laugh if the mysterious virus is punishing us all

For what someone has done selfishly

I cry

Meadows of the phantoms haunt us in the dream

Shadows of the dying await our help

But who is the true criminal

A bat, Bach yawns.

巴赫與蝙蝠

金色的陽光灑滿屋頂

寒冷的冬風刮涼了我的脖子

空曠的道路向天邊延伸

巴赫的托卡塔和賦格曲在耳邊蕩漾

但誰阻止我追逐太陽

藍天擁抱希望的早晨

昏暗的墻壁遮住了我的視綫

傻瓜吸著舊空氣把窗戶關得嚴嚴的

巴赫歡快明朗的音調使我煥然一新

但誰截斷通往天堂的公路

平靜的海洋埋藏著許多黑暗的秘密

遙遠的叢林在火中呻吟,偷走了我的安寧

動物在樹梢上掙扎著最後一口氣

巴赫波瀾起伏的韻律撫慰我的心靈

但誰會為這些死亡負責

劈天蓋地的信息在乏味的房子裏令人眩暈

忙碌的雙手不斷敲著紧张和恐惧的圖文

孩子受保護不能上學

巴赫紫色的痛撞擊著我的靈魂

但誰嚇到親愛的朋友獨自用餐

如果大自然如此善良你必須去燒，我會笑

如果國家如此和平你必須去殺，我會笑

如果生活如此無聊你必須找麻煩，我會笑

但如果神秘的病毒在懲罰我們大家

只因爲有些人私心做了什麽

我。。。哭了

逝者的陰魂在夢中縈繞

垂死掙扎的面孔在等待幫助

但誰才是真正的罪魁禍首

一隻蝙蝠，巴赫呵欠道

Creative Process 創作過程

--- Bach's Law of Mean by Chen Danyang, 2014 | 陳丹陽作品《巴赫的卑鄙法律》

After the unsatisfied Harbin trip with the lockdown, I came across this Chen Danyang's masterpiece from ASPZ's submission call. It immediately grabbed my heart by its colors, patterns and puzzles. I began to search Bach. I then got the related piece of Bach's music The Well-Tempered Clavier. I simply couldn't stop listening to it every day everywhere,  from my bedroom to the living room, from the balcony to the kitchen, from the corridor to the toilet. The richness and the liveliness delighted me as if Bach was playing with a houseful of children. The harder he played, the milder the tone sounded. 

在全國封城令人不快的哈尔滨之旅后，我偶然在ASPZ投稿信息中看到了这个陳丹陽的杰作。它的颜色，图案和谜點瞬間抓住了我的心。我开始搜索巴赫。然后，我獲知巴赫的平均律。我每天無時無刻不在听，从我的卧室到客厅，从阳台到厨房，从走廊到厕所。丰富的生命力使我心綻放，仿佛巴赫在和滿屋子的孩子玩閙。他閙得越厲害，音調就越和諧。

When Bach became exhausted, a Bat appeared to annoy him. The Bat was naughty. Bach was almost losing his temper. They had a rough argument. Bach found himself silly arguing with a blind Bat. He blinded himself by closing his eyes and indulged himself by hitting the keys of a piano. The demanding Bat screamed over Bach's head. And Bach's lips trembled to sing. 

巴赫累壞時，一只蝙蝠出現並惹恼了他。蝙蝠太皮。巴赫几乎要发火了。他们一吵就吵得很凶。 巴赫发现自己和一只瞎蝙蝠吵很傻。他闭上眼睛讓自己也看不見，并沉溺于敲击钢琴键。殊不知苛刻的蝙蝠在巴赫头上尖叫。巴赫颤抖的嘴唇只能哼起歌來。

--- Heather Reading her poem Bach and Bat at the ASPZ Launching Party, and struggling with the pronounciation of Bach - "Batch" or "Back", 2020.5 | 阿太在ASPZ雜志發佈會上朗讀《巴赫與蝙蝠》

I started recording their voices and composing this poem:

Each verse - a block section that refers to the rhythm in the painting;

Each color - gold yellow, purple and blue - a melody of inner conflicts;

Each line - a dot of tonality.

我开始记录他们的声音并创作了这首诗：

每一行字——即每個音调的點；

每一节詩——即画中的每塊节奏；

每一种颜色：金、黄、蓝、紫——即内心冲突的旋律。

--- ASPZ Launching Party, 2020.5 |ASPZ雜志發佈會現場

Afterthought 讀后感

--- ASPZ Launching Party, 2020.5 |ASPZ雜志發佈會現場

Reading Bach and Bat brought me back to the moment of my imaginative Bach arguing with the Bat, I believe Bach will win, though at the moment the Bat is treading over the head of Bach, and we are seeing things, feeling things, just not finding the solution yet. We'll eventually smear the Bat's mocking smile and return Bach's true face without any covers or shades

朗讀《巴赫與蝙蝠》让我回想起當時巴赫與蝙蝠争论的那一刻，我相信巴赫会赢，尽管此時蝙蝠正脚踏巴赫头上，我们仍能看見事物，感受事物，只是還沒有找到解決辦法。我們最終會抹掉蝙蝠嘲弄的微笑，讓巴赫的真面目沒有任何遮掩或陰影。

--- Heather and Ruby @ ASPZ Launching Party, 2020.5 |ASPZ雜志發佈會與Ruby合影

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | 特别鸣谢

Text Advisor 文字导师 | Mike Clark

Video 视频 | Ruby Huang

ASPZ

Vision 視覺 | Giuseppe Daddeo

Chief Editor 總編 | Patrick Schiefen

Events Manager 活動 | Lexi Rhodes

Special Editions Curator 策劃 | Jonathan Mulcahy

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Note: To build a mutual Literature & Art community, Heather has now opened her personal channel (WeChat ID: Heather69) to her friends, who are following HeathersChamber. No cheaters!

备注：由于时间和精力有限，为了建立一个互敬互惠的文学艺术圈子，阿太特向已关注此公众号的朋友们分享她的个人微信号：Heather69 。骗子勿扰！

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- Heather Cai -

Heather is the daughter of a subsistence rice farmer from Fujian Province, China. She tells stories from her experience as one of the poorest. She writes her dream to share with the world, a very personal place. She has now written two English literary novels and is looking to being published in the UK. Her passion is a splendid cocktail or milkshake of word, image, music and art. She likes collecting books, DVDs, papers, stones, shells and leaves. She desires for all forms of natural beauty. 

Copyright © 2019-2020 Heather Cai. All Rights Reserved. 所有版权归作者蔡太莲所有