Wang Mun Kiat 黄文杰 (b. 1967)

CRITICAL INTRODUCTION

诗的一寸短一寸险——黄文杰诗风之转变 [An Inch Shorter, An Inch Riskier: The Evolution of Wang Mun Kiat’s Poetics]

Written by Aw Seow Pooi and Ang Lai Sheng 
Translated by Yap Hao Yang and Jonathan Chan
Dated 28 Nov 2023

早期的孤独浪漫情怀

《夜未央》（华英2013）里收录的作品，多以传统抒情作品为主，烘托出诗人对于浪漫与孤独的向往和沉溺；也透露出诗人早期对于诗的想象、表现手法以及其意象的运用。诗集中，同名作品〈夜未央〉描写：“这夜／都已经是睡着了／我却不知趣的／以一根烟头打扰／诗绪袅袅／在静止的天幕上／一行又一行”诗人的孤独和内心的无力感通过夜深释放，然后任由思绪到破晓“……冷不防／一只早起的飞鸟／就在云端处／呼叫了我的名字／烟被惊灭／诗，却还未完”。 （华英 2013：101） 暗夜与黎明，烟和诗的对比，看似修饰却在诗人笔下扩大了孤寂的空间。

笔者觉得和这首诗相对应的，有诗人的〈失忆〉：“被困住的还有什么／城市的回音／没有答案／它们也忙着遗忘过去／／我唯有／捧着失落的孤单／在湖边徘徊／也许，也许／水中的倒影／会透露开锁的秘密”（华英 2013：56）与另一首〈解脱〉：“从喧哗的笼子里／默默地出走／依月色的暗示／一笔一笔步向孤独”。（华英 2013：71）这两首作品同样的反映了诗人孤独的形象，更是徒添了一份沉默的重量，彷佛借助诗离开喧嚣的世界，才能获得希望的延续。

另外，在《夜未央》中，也不乏传统意义上咏物情怀的作品，是诗人“托物言志”间呈现出的一种美感。诗人的〈我，只是一滴水〉如此描写：“我的样子／是雨丝，是河流／是大海，是白云／是天，赐给地的诗／是地，还以天的情”。诗人使用递进的方式，由小至雨丝落下河流向大海，再升上白云覆盖天与地的常态循环，借由自然景物来表达“我”的变化无常。诗人因着水无形之特质，利用其多变之姿使情志寄托之中。接着，他写“我，只是一滴水／和着／从生命／到生命的歌…..／／没有永恒的名字／我，就只是一滴水／但如果有缘／也许／还是你眼角间／那一点温热”。（华英 2013：79）两段诗歌寥寥几行，却凝聚了诗人内心深沉的思维，强调了“我”和所咏之物的主动情态，见诗亦见物，丰富了诗歌生动的形象。

我们能够从文杰的早期作品，发现“咏物诗”成为了他基本的创作模式。他借由物象来抒怀，例如日月星辰、鸟鸣蝉声、湖水小舟等等来达到以物寄情和以物传情的作用。这些作品包括〈停泊的小舟〉：“就让彼岸／继续点亮着南柯的梦／而我／依然是这端／睡不着的小舟”（华英 2013：75），〈奎笼〉写的：“我的心湖／架起了这奎笼／用日月的网／捞起了多少生命的喜忧”（华英 2013：87），或者是〈听夜〉描述的“细听／那夜的窃窃私语／静默的秘密／在蝉声中传递”等。（华英 2013：69）诗人热衷于观察大自然现象变化，再通过内心感受和与外在感官来形成一首诗；这些作品意象的意境柔美婉约，领会形象所蕴含的情感或精神内涵。

正如爱尔兰著名诗人谢默斯·希尼（Seamus Heaney）（注）认为：“诗人的主题并不是世界的本身，而是世界怎么触发他的本性，他的诗歌是他对世界独特感受的一系列隐喻。”（谢默斯·希尼2000）而通过《夜未央》这本诗集让读者看到诗人内在情感和想象，最终产生一种静态的反思与沉淀。

 

“后现代性” 所导致的诗风突变

于二〇一四年，初初接触到脸书的网络写诗的活动“一首诗的时间”与台湾诗人蔡仁伟的《伪诗集》（蔡仁伟2013）后，黄文杰受到了各种不同的新创作手法上的冲击，让他的诗风迎来了焕然一新的转变。

黄文杰在第二本诗集《短舌》（黄文杰2021）里，不仅看不到传统的抒情、浪漫与朦胧，反之，更像匕首一样，对于意象的经营更加直接赤裸，在不浪费任何一个字、一个意象的情况下，瞬间营造出爆破的能量。正如游俊豪副教授在序文〈精光闪烁的匕首〉中的描述：“短兵相接的时候，匕首最利于近身肉搏，‘一寸短一寸险’就是它的特色之一。特色之二是，它最便于隐藏潜伏，关键时候才亮出攻击。这曾在‘图穷匕见’的典故里发生。” （游俊豪 2021：i）

而诗集名为“短舌”更是精简有力地表达出一些群体“不善言语”甚至是“失语”的一种困境，在批判中夹带自嘲，也在自嘲中保持诗人的清醒。

“短舌”或许可以指涉内向而不善辞令的群体，在这个需要外向和积极表现的新时代里，所面对的各种生活不便；又或者，也可以隐喻在新加坡语言政策改变后，那些 “一夜失语” 的老华校生。黄在不少作品中，对于 “英语” 的强势，以及 “纯正英语” 的苛求，总是夹杂着一些不满的情绪，爆发在〈皇帝的新鸟〉中“把lah、leh、then、alamak 统统脱掉／这样比较高贵／英国鸟会骄傲地飞” 。（黄文杰 2021：1）同时，也写了另一首〈学好华文的一亿个理由〉 “第一亿个理由／怕淹死在自己血液里／／之前的理由／忘了” 。（黄文杰 2021：8）这是诗人反思自身与当前社会状态的凝视，他企图以诗来勘破这些本应存在的身份与语言。

整本《短舌》中，诗可短至两行，除散文诗外，最长的也不过十余行。但要在精短的篇幅与诗行间表达复杂的社会问题，尖锐的矛盾，乃至民声，并未难倒他。〈小人物语〉则表达了小人物在日常生活使用粗口的常态，“这里鸟一下那里鸟一下／生活／尽花香” 。（黄文杰 2021：71）诗人道尽了先进与空间与自由的局限，本应属于私人（空间）的产品，实际上是社会产物，意义上的自由并不完全。

不仅如此，诗人还通过日常生活道出一些复杂的“意识形态”问题，这包括〈落枕〉“是梦太重／过度倾向左侧或者右／／醒来／惊讶世界都是歪的”；（黄文杰 2021：90）另，对于现代消费主义的批判，包括〈传统〉“六万五千四百三十元的广告／和一块月饼”。（黄文杰 2021：91）以上看似简单的诗句，却又与现代都市生活的节奏，如紧张、复杂、纷乱合成一体；仿佛诗人借此挑衅世界，更借此来刺激读者瞬间性的印象，现代人逐渐被物质生活吞噬了，矛盾的存在却又彼此依附。

 

小结

经过人生经历的转折，不同文学思潮的影响，黄文杰早期累积了廿余年的“抒情风格”，在短短大约五年的时间内，诗风转变成具有“后现代性”的戏谑（parody）和蒙太奇（montage）手法；用词上也不时夹杂隐喻和双关，在短短的篇幅内，走出了原先的唯美浪漫以及孤独——将自省、内敛的自我，转化为批判、深刻而外发的自己。

注

谢默斯·希尼（Seamus Heaney，1939年4月13日—2013年8月30日），爱尔兰诗人、翻译家。1995年获得诺贝尔文学。1966年，他以首部诗集《一位自然主义者之死》（亦有被翻译成《一个博物学家的死亡》）一举成名。至今，谢默斯·希尼仍然被公认是爱尔兰诗歌重要的贡献者之一。

参考资料

  1. 华英。2013。《夜未央》，新加坡：新加坡书写文学协会。

  2. 黄文杰。2021。 《短舌》，新加坡：新文潮出版社，2021。

  3. 游俊豪。2021。〈精光闪烁的匕首〉（序），《短舌》，新加坡：新文潮出版社，页i—iii。

  4. 谢默斯·希尼（Seamus Heaney）。2000。〈诗歌能阻挡坦克吗？——贝岭与希尼的对话〉，《洛杉矶时报书评周刊》。

  5. 蔡仁伟。2013。《伪诗集》，台北：黑眼睛文化事业有限公司，2013。

Early Years: Sensibilities of Solitude and Romance

Most of the poems in Wang’s first collection《夜未央》[Not Yet Midnight], written under his nom de plume 华英[Hua Ying], are written in a traditional lyrical form, expressing Wang’s yearning for and indulgence in romance and solitude. The eponymous poem <夜未央> [“Not Yet Midnight”] exemplifies the poet’s early approach to conceptualising and presenting his poems, as well as his use of motifs: 

这夜
都已经是睡着了
我却不知趣的
以一根烟头打扰
诗绪袅袅
在静止的天幕上
一行又一行……冷不防
一只早起的飞鸟
就在云端处
呼叫了我的名字
烟被惊灭
诗，却还未完

[This night 
Has already gone to sleep 
Yet I am unaware, 
pestered by a cigarette butt
Threads of a poem
Sit atop the tranquil sky 
One line, another line… 
The cold offers no protection 
One bird awakes early
It is at the edge of a cloud 
chirping my name 
Suddenly, the smoke scatters
The poem is yet to be finished]

Between dusk and dawn, smoke and poetry, this contrast can seem decorative, but it enlarges the space of solitude in the poem under the poet’s pen.

This poem finds its counterpart in <失忆> [“Lost Memory”]:

被困住的还有什么
城市的回音
没有答案
它们也忙着遗忘过去

我唯有
捧着失落的孤单
在湖边徘徊
也许，也许
水中的倒影
会透露开锁的秘密

[What else has been trapped
The echoes of the city
Have no answers
They, too, are busy forgetting the past

All I can do
Is hold the loneliness that has been lost
Pace back and forth by the lake
Perhaps, perhaps
The water’s reflection
Will reveal the secret behind unlocking]

The poem <解脱> [“Deliverance”] also serves as a counterpart:

从喧哗的笼子里
默默地出走
依月色的暗示
一笔一笔步向孤独

[From within a noisy cage
Leaving silently
Following the moon’s hints
One stroke of the pen by another toward solitude]

As with “Not Yet Midnight”, these two poems reflect Wang’s image of loneliness, adding the weight of silence, as if leaving the noise of the world through a poem is the only way one can hope to persist. 

Moreover, in Not Yet Midnight, there is no shortage of sentimental work. It is a kind of beauty made visible through Wang’s expression of emotions through objects. Wang’s poem <我，只是一滴水> [“I, Just a Drop of Water”], expresses this as such:

我的样子
是雨丝，是河流
是大海，是白云
是天，赐给地的诗
是地，还以天的情

[My likeness
Is the raindrops, the flowing river
the immense sea, the clouds
the sky, the poems it gives
is the ground, returning affection to the sky]

Wang’s style is incremental, beginning from the smallest raindrop falling onto a river and flowing toward the sea, before rising to the white clouds that cover the sky and earth in a regular cycle, using natural images to illuminate a shifting sense of the “I”. Using the shifting, formless qualities of water, Wang illustrates his feelings and emotions. He continues, writing:

我，只是一滴水
和着
从生命
到生命的歌…..

没有永恒的名字
我，就只是一滴水
但如果有缘
也许
还是你眼角间
那一点温热

[I, just a drop of water
And with this
From life
to life’s song…

There is no eternal name
I, am just a drop of water
But if fate allows
Perhaps
I will also be at the corner of your eyes
That little drop of warmth]

The two stanzas of the poem are a few lines long, but they allow the poet’s deep inner thoughts to cohere, emphasising the active mood of the “I” and the poem’s objects. Seeing the poem as well as the objects enriches the poem’s vivid images.

From Wang’s early works, we find that incantatory poems that name objects form his foundational mode of writing. He expresses his feelings through objects, such as the sun, moon and stars, the chirps of birds and cicadas, and a boat on the lake. The use of the pathetic fallacy has become one of Wang’s characteristic techniques, applied to a myriad of natural objects. Such works include <停泊的小舟> [“The Moored Boat”]:

就让彼岸
继续点亮着南柯的梦
而我
依然是这端
睡不着的小舟

[Just let the shore
Continue to light the empty world of a dream
And I
Remain at this end
In the small boat unable to sleep]

This also includes the poem <奎笼> [“Kelong”]:

我的心湖
架起了这奎笼
用日月的网
捞起了多少生命的喜忧

[The lake of my heart
Has propped up this kelong
With nets of the sun and the moon
How many lives of joy and sorrow has it caught]

Or that which is described in the poem <听夜> [“Listening to the Night”]:

细听
那夜的窃窃私语
静默的秘密
在蝉声中传递

[Listen carefully
To that night’s private whispers
Its deep secrets
Delivered in the sound of cicadas]

Wang observes changes in natural phenomena keenly and draws on these inner feelings and external senses to craft his poems. These works’ images are soft and graceful, allowing readers to understand the emotional and spiritual connotations they contain.

The Irish poet Seamus Heaney believed that the poet does not write about the world, but how the world touches the self, and that poetry is a series of allusions to the poet’s unique experience of the world (Heaney, “Can a Poem Stop a Tank?” 2000). Similarly, reading Not Yet Midnight provides insight into the poet’s interiority, eventually ultimately bringing the reader to a state of quiet reflection, a sense of feeling settled. 

Postmodernism: An Abrupt Change in Style

In 2014, after encountering and being impacted by various new styles of writing in the Facebook group 一首诗的时间 [In the Space of a Poem], as well as Taiwanese poet Cai Ren Wei’s 2013 poetry collection《伪诗集》[False Collection], Wang’s poetry underwent a radical change.

In Wang’s second collection of poetry,《短舌》[Short Tongue], one notes the absence of traditional lyricism, romanticism, and ambiguity. Instead, his writing becomes more pointed, sharper, and barer—just like a blade. By not wasting a single word or image, Wang effectively imbues his words with explosive power. As Associate Professor Yow Cheun Hoe describes in his preface entitled <精光闪烁的匕首> [“The Dazzling Blade”]:

短兵相接的时候，匕首最利于近身肉搏，‘一寸短一寸险’就是它的特色之一。特色之二是，它最便于隐藏潜伏，关键时候才亮出攻击。这曾在‘图穷匕见’的典故里发生。

[When jousting, the blade is best suited for close combat; one of its key characteristics is that ‘one inch closer means one more inch to danger. Another characteristic is that it is most convenient for ambush, for attacking only at the critical moment. This happened in the classic tale of Tu Qiong Bi Xian (which literally means that when a map reaches its end, a dagger appeared; the tale and the idiom refer to how an intention is only revealed at the end of a process).]

That the collection itself is titled Short Tongue acutely expresses the predicament of inarticulateness or even aphasia that marks certain communities. There is self-mockery in Wang’s critique, but in his self-mockery, he retains a poet’s clarity of mind. 

Short Tongue could perhaps refer to introverted and antisocial groups who face all sorts of inconveniences in this new age that demands extraversion and active self-display. Alternatively, the poems of the collection could allude to the students of old Chinese schools who experienced an ‘overnight language loss’ in the wake of changes made to Singapore’s language policy. In many of Wang’s works that address the superiority of the “English Language” and the stringent demands for “Standard English”, there are invariably strands of dissatisfaction. For example in <皇帝的新鸟> [“The Emperor’s New Bird”]:

把lah，leh，then，alamak 统统脱掉
这样比较高贵
英国鸟会骄傲地飞 

[lah, leh, then, alamak: strip them all 
It is classier this way 
England’s birds will proudly fly]

Wang has also written a poem titled <学好华文的一亿个理由> [“The Billionth Reason to Learn Chinese Well’”]: 

第一亿个理由
怕淹死在自己血液里

之前的理由
忘了

[The billionth reason
Is the fear of drowning in one’s own blood

Any reasons before that
I have forgotten]

This is the gaze of a poet reflecting on himself and the current state of society, and he attempts to survey identities and languages that are supposed to exist in poetry.

In Short Tongue, Wang’s poems can be as short as two lines. Even the longest ones, excluding prose poems, only go slightly beyond ten lines. Nonetheless, Wang manages to convey complex social issues, stark contradictions, and a plurality of voices in such concise verse forms. <小人物语> [“NPC Dialogue”] addresses the everyman’s complaints:

这里鸟一下那里鸟一下
生活
尽花香 

[Complain a bit here
Complain a bit there 

life is filled
with the fragrance of flowers]

Wang speaks of the limits of progress and space and freedom; what should be a private (spatial) product is actually a social product. Freedom in this sense is incomplete.

Beyond this, Wang asks certain complex questions of ‘ideology’, as is evident in the poem <落枕> [“Stiff Necks”]: 

是梦太重
过度倾向左侧或者右
醒来
惊讶世界都是歪的 

[Dreams are too heavy
leaning too far to the left or the right

Waking up 
we are shocked by the world’s waywardness]

Wang also criticises modern consumerism, as seen in his poem <传统> [“Tradition”]: 

六万五千四百三十元的广告
和一块月饼

[A sixty-five thousand four hundred and thirty dollars advertisement 
and a mooncake]

These verses seem simple but are integrated with the rhythms of modern urban life, such as tension, complexity, and chaos. It is as if the poet is using this to provoke the world, and beyond that, to stimulate the reader's instantaneous impression that modern people are gradually being swallowed up by the materialistic life. These contradictory existences are dependent on each other.

Conclusion

Having experienced changes in his life and influences from various literary movements, the lyrical style that Wang Mun Kiat refined over twenty years underwent a stark transition in the course of a mere five years. His writing would begin to contain traces of postmodern parody and montage, as well as the use of metaphors and double entendres. Within terse and compact verses, Wang walked out of his initial solitude, transforming an introspective, reserved self into one that is critical, profound, and outward-looking. 

Works cited

Heaney, Seamus. “Can a Poem Stop a Tank?” By Bei Ling. Los Angeles Times. 31 December 2000. 

Hua Ying. Not Yet Midnight. Singapore: Society of Literature Writing, 2013. 

Wang Mun Kiat. Short Tongue. Singapore: TrendLit Publishing, 2021.

Wang Mun Kiat. Short Tongue 短舌 (Bilingual Edition). Translated by Daryl Lim Wei Jie. Singapore: Rosetta Cultures, 2023.

Yow, Cheun Hoe. ‘The Dazzling Blade’. In Wang Mun Kiat. Short Tongue. Singapore: TrendLit Publishing, 2021.

 

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