November 7, 2021Quatrain of Seven Steps
煮豆燃豆萁，
豆在釜中泣：
本是同根生，
相煎何太急！
Cooking beans over a stalk fire,
beans are weeping in the boiler:
Beans and stalks from one root,
why should we kill each other!
—tr. by Yuemin He
from Poets Respond
from Poets Respond
Yuemin He
“Overnight this famous Chinese poem has become a web sensation. The business magnet Elon Musk tweeted it and his fans followed, catapulting a poem from 1800 years ago to a new spatial-temporal under the title ‘Humanity.’ Fans are guessing the intent of the tweet, creative folks are writing pastiches, and I translate to wax the table for poetry lovers who relish flavor.”