Xie Qing 谢清 (b. 1947)
CRITICAL INTRODUCTION
那一株时代的“毒草” [The “Poisonous Weed” of an Era]
Written by Ang Jin Yong and Aw Seow Pooi
Translated by Jonathan Chan
Dated 8 Nov 2023
导论
谢清目前共出了三本诗集，第一本《哭泣的神：谢清诗集》（谢青1971）和第二本《鹤迹：谢清诗集》（谢清1979）利用了诸多象征与各种创作手法表現，通过“现代主义”的手法刻画出诗人对于现实的关怀。所谓的“现代主义”，主要想对抗的，是非人性、个人化的官僚与科技的抽象体制（廖炳惠编2018）。然而，谢清的诗作除了对抗这些抽象体制，还反映了他对于现实社会的关怀。这两本诗集出版后，诗人将近30年没出版诗集，直至在2020年才以电子书的方式出版了《无痕：谢清诗集》（谢清2020）。相较于之前两本诗集的激情与批判，这本诗集展露了诗人一些久已流失的情怀与记忆，和之前的两本诗集是个截然不同的表达。
以“现代主义”的手法书写现实
谢清的第一本诗集《哭泣的神：谢清诗集》利用了许多象征和比喻的手法，刻画出他对现实的关怀。例如，〈哭泣的神〉多次提及“湄公河”，并借此指向在湄公河流域开打的越战（张英豪2014）。而诗人对于越战的态度可以通过接下来的几句话体现“生命如蛆／人不再是人／（神们气愤，筋暴／泪如泉。祂们是人子之弃妇）”（谢清1971：10）.在这里，诗人把“人”比喻成“蛆”，也把“神”比喻成“人子之弃妇”，体现了在战乱的时代，生命如蛆般渺小和脆弱，就连“神”也无法帮忙，以致人们抛弃了对祂的信仰。这个描写无疑是在批评战争和战乱所带来的残害。另外，〈囹圄〉也同样用了象征的手法去批评战争，例如“用子弹迎接自己的兄弟／那是忠伟大的牺牲／有人在穿大衣的鸡尾酒会中说／伟大。牺牲／血的洪流”（谢清1971：19）批评了战争背后的主谋者和政治家在远离战场的一场“鸡尾酒会中说伟大”而真正的士兵却在战场上厮杀彼此。然而，笔者却认为，这样的描写不止适用于战争或战场，因为即便在当今的社会、即便在相对平凡的其他区域里，依然还有许多手握权力的人或政治家（穿大衣的人）总爱在不同的平台上（鸡尾酒会）宣扬自己的伟大和事迹，而他们的伟大和事迹可能建立在其他人的牺牲和痛苦中（用子弹迎接自己的兄弟）。
《鹤迹》延续着诗人“现代主义”的写作手法，关怀的对象却从较为庞大的国际局事开始转向城市与居住在里头的城市人。例如〈多皱折的塑像〉描写了诗人在组屋楼梯旁看到的老妇人并质问“步履纷忙的晨光里／谁再注意那尊倔强的生命塑像／茁在冷冷的朝光／火，在千重的冷中燃烧／生之意趣”（谢清1979：36）。在这里，作者将老妇人比喻成“塑像”，也通过“朝光火”描写了老妇坚强的个性，似乎在种种的不如意中依然有活下去的坚念。而〈现代婚姻〉更是批判了都市人把“婚姻”沦为一种金钱的游戏，“在银元与纸钞乱滚与翻飞的年代／父母都改行为猎者”（谢清1979：105），而“亲情逐成小小墓石上的微暖……人，已成冷漠无轮的车子”（谢清1979：106）。
迹乘风而去后的抒怀
自一九七九年出版诗集《鹤迹》后，谢清未再出版诗集，直到二〇二〇年在网络平台推出了电子版诗集《无痕》（谢青2020）。这部著作收录的诗作与诗人早期的作品截然不同，从曾经锐利的笔锋转化为感悟满溢的抒情作品。例如〈花与蝶〉的开头，“将前世溢出的情缘／结成一束／优昙花／看刹那间的喜乐”（谢清2020：17），看似是诗人在抒发情感与傳遞情愫的短暂性，但是它的结尾却非常耐人寻味“泪落满襟的瞳／盛装／花蝶灰灭时／那种／空无”（谢清2020：17），却带有“万事皆空”的含义，在指涉所有的情缘最终只是落得一场空。《无痕》中的多首「无题」，如〈无题030711〉的结尾：“恍悟／日月皆虛／生死是幻”（谢清2020：2）与〈无题100211〉：“温馨的师火犹远／乱蝶焚灭后／卿卿，望眼／落花与飞絮／是否／同路”（谢清2020：50），似乎再指涉作者即感受深刻于“红尘”，却又“看破”这个大千世界。
尽管诗人感悟人生如镜花水月，但面对生活依然保持积极和正面的态度。我们可以从他的〈太阳花〉里读到：“始终是／如此一张畅开迎人的脸／朝着晨光／和着没有黑暗的日子”、“生活已不再是／能用金钱衡量的岁月／欢乐像黄金一般的／铺在你宽裕的胸膛／乌鸦和黑夜无法在你面前／立足”，诗句中利用花盛开的灿烂衬托阳光的光明，抵御了暗黑；现实中的金钱也比不上太阳花每一瓣向上且朝气的欢乐，黑色的物体更是在光之下荡然无存，几句的对比诠释了正面的美好。接着，诗人写“暗流没有去处／你以挺直的腰／傲视周遭的诽言恶语／风依旧冷冷的吹／世界还是没有停止运转／你始终如一／笔直的竖立在／一个黑白难分，正邪莫辩的／时空里，／笑看人生”（谢清2020：37）。诗人勉励人若在复杂的环境里，能够活得像他的“太阳花”般的强大不失去自己，依旧坚强与正直，也不枉来“人世”这一趟。
小结
身为开拓新华现代主义诗人之一的谢清，灵活运用象征式的诗句和意象来给予创作一种崭新的形式，充分展现了他对自己所处的时代与环境的一种态度，代表了当时现代诗的新方向。尤其早期七〇年代的作品，更凸显出诗人对“现代主义”创作手法的实验与追求。诗人往后数十载的创作诗风较之前的迥然有别，少了当初的激昂澎湃，更多的是抒情感怀和人生体悟。谢清的作品在不同时代皆有不同的色彩，这恰恰给读者提供了一个多元的视角去解读诗人与其诗作。
注
1960年代初，新华诗坛有一场现实主义和现代主义之争，并有文人通过在报纸上刊登的文章来论述对于“现代主义”的观点。当时钟祺发表了一篇文章〈新诗的逆流——现代派〉，称现代派是诗歌园地的一株“毒草”。（张松建、张森林2018：2-3）
参考资料
张松建、张森林。2018。〈导论——缪斯的踪迹〉，《新国风：新加坡华文现代诗选》，新加坡：中华语言文化中心、八方文化创作室。
张英豪。2014。《新加坡华文现代诗中的现代概念（1959-1982）》，新加坡：南洋理工大学中文系硕士论文。https://dr.ntu.edu.sg/handle/10356/62101?mode=simple 。（见于2022年6月12日）
谢清。1971。《哭泣的神：谢清诗集》，新加坡：五月出版社。
谢清。1979。《鹤迹：谢清诗集》，新加坡：柏利彩印。
谢清。2020《无痕：谢清诗集》，新加坡：5G文学网——新华文学数码河山，电子书。https://ebook.5gsg.net/lqn/xieqing-wuhen.html 。（见于2022年6月22日）
廖炳惠编。2018。《关键词200》，台北：麦田出版，2018。
Introduction
Written under his pen name Xie Qing, Chia Kwak Fah has published a total of three books of poetry. His first book, 《哭泣的神》[A Weeping God] (1971) and his second book, 《鹤迹》[Crane Tracks] (1979) make use of several symbols and a variety of creative techniques. Through the use of ‘modernist’ techniques, they depict Xie Qing’s concerns about reality. This use of so-called ‘modernist’ techniques is primarily concerned with opposing dehumanisation, as well as the bureaucratisation of the individual and the abstractions caused by technology (200 Keywords, 2018). However, not only do Xie Ping’s poems resist these systems of abstraction, but they also reveal his concern for contemporary society. After the publication of these two collections, he did not publish a collection of poems for nearly 30 years until 2020, when he published《无痕》[No Trace] as an e-book. In contrast to the passion and critical spirit of his previous two collections, Xie Qing’s third collection reveals some of the feelings and memories he has lost, yielding a markedly different form of expression from his previous work.
Writing Reality in a "Modernist" Style
Xie Qing's first collection, A Weeping God, utilises a variety of symbols and metaphors to portray his concerns toward reality. For example, the Mekong River recurs throughout the collection, alluding to the Mekong River Basin as a central theatre of combat during the Vietnam War (Teo, Singapore Chinese modern poetry and the idea of the modern, 2014). Xie Qing’s attitude toward the War is reflected in the following lines of the titular poem:
生命如蛆
人不再是人
（神们气愤，筋暴
泪如泉。祂们是人子之弃妇）[Their lives are akin to maggots
Humans are no longer human
(The gods are fuming, their veins bursting
Tears streaming. The gods, like the abandoned wives of the people)]
Herein, the speaker compares “lives” to “maggots” and “the gods” to “the abandoned wives of the people.” This reflects the fact that in times of war, life is as meagre and fragile as a maggot, and even “the gods” are incapable of providing help, leading people to abandon their faith. This description advances an undeniable critique of war and the cruelty and destruction it brings about. In addition, Xie Qing’s poem <囹圄> [“Behind Bars”] also deploys symbolism in its critique of war:
用子弹迎接自己的兄弟
那是忠伟大的牺牲
有人在穿大衣的鸡尾酒会中说
伟大。牺牲
血的洪流[Greeting one’s brother with a bullet
That is a loyal and great sacrifice
Someone wearing an overcoat at a cocktail party said
Greatness. Sacrifice.
A torrent of blood.]
The speaker criticises the architects of war and politicians for their invocations of “Greatness” while at a “cocktail party”, far removed from the battlefields where real soldiers are slaughtering one another. However, such a portrayal applies not only to war or the battlefield but also to present societal conditions. Even under other, relatively normal conditions, politicians and those who have grabbed hold of power (“Someone wearing an overcoat”), love to take different platforms (“cocktail party”) to proclaim their greatness and their deeds, which may be built on the sacrifices and sufferings of others (“Greeting one’s brother with a bullet”).
Crane Tracks reveals a continuation of Xie Qing’s “modernist” approach, but his object of concern shifts from broader international affairs toward the city of Singapore and all those who reside in it. For example, the poem <多皱折的塑像> [“A Statue with Wrinkles”] depicts how the speaker notices an old lady at the staircase of an HDB and asks:
步履纷忙的晨光里
谁再注意那尊倔强的生命塑像
茁在冷冷的朝光
火，在千重的冷中燃烧
生之意趣[Under the busy light of morning
Who again pays attention to that unbending living statue
Flourishing in the cold of the dawn’s
Fire, burning in the cold of a thousand weights
An attention to life]
Here, the speaker compares the old lady to a statue and describes her strong personality through the image of the “dawn’s / Fire”, alluding to a strong will to continue living. By contrast, the poem <现代婚姻> [“Modern Marriage”], critiques how urbanites have reduced marriage to a game for money:
在银元与纸钞乱滚与翻飞的年代
父母都改行为猎者[…]
亲情逐成小小墓石上的微暖……人，已成冷漠无轮的车子
[In the era of silver coins and banknotes that tumble and fly
Parents have all transformed into hunters[…]
Affection had been reduced to the warmth on a small tombstone
People, they have already become cars, cold, bereft of wheels]
“Lyrics” after Years of Separation
In the thirty years after the publication of Crane Tracks, Xie Qing did not publish another collection until 2020, when he published No Trace. The poems in this collection represent a departure from Xie Qing’s previous poems, shifting from more precision in his craft toward lyrical verses overflowing with feelings. For example, the beginning of the poem <花与蝶> [“Flowers and Butterflies”] seems to express the ephemerality the speaker experiences in the midst of expressing his emotions and sentiments:
将前世溢出的情缘
结成一束
优昙花
看刹那间的喜乐[The overflow of love from a past life
Has been knotted into a bouquet
Of azaleas
See the joy of a fleeting moment]
Yet, it is the poem’s conclusion that intrigues:
泪落满襟的瞳
盛装
花蝶灰灭时
那种
空无[Pupils fill with tears
Dressed in splendid clothes
At the time when flowers and butterflies are destroyed
That kind
Of emptiness]
The poem’s ending creates a sense that everything is empty, alluding to the fact that all affairs are ultimately hollow.
The various <无题> "[“Untitled”] poems in No Trace seem to imply that the speaker feels deeply about ‘red dust’, or the mortal world. Consider the ending of the poem <无题030711> [“Untitled 030711”]:
恍悟
日月皆虛
生死是幻[In an instant, I realise
That the sun and moon are empty
That life and death are illusions]
Or the ending of the poem <无题 100211> [“Untitled 100211”]:
温馨的师火犹远
乱蝶焚灭后
卿卿，望眼
落花与飞絮
是否
同路[The warmth of a teacher’s fire is distant
After the chaotic butterflies are extinguished,
My dear, fix your gaze,
The falling flowers, the flying cotton,
Are they not
On the same path]
Despite feeling strongly the sense of the world’s mortality, the speaker also seems to “see through” this diverse, manifold world.
Though Xie Qing has come to the realisation that life is akin to a reflection of the moon in a mirror, he still maintains an upbeat outlook. This can be observed in his poem <太阳花> [“Sunflower”]:
始终是
如此一张畅开迎人的脸
朝着晨光
和着没有黑暗的日子[…]
生活已不再是
能用金钱衡量的岁月
欢乐像黄金一般的
铺在你宽裕的胸膛
乌鸦和黑夜无法在你面前
立足[Always,
Such an open, welcoming face as this
Looks toward the morning light
And the days bereft of darkness[…]
Life is no longer merely
The years that can be measured in money
Joy is like gold
Spread across the expanse of your chest
Neither the crows nor the night in front of you
Can find a foothold]
In the poem, the splendour of flowers in full bloom forms the backdrop to the brightness of daylight and the resisting of darkness. The reality of money cannot compare to the ascending, vivacious joy captured in each petal of the sunflower, while dark objects all but disappear beneath the light. The contrast of these lines demonstrates a sense of beauty. The poem continues:
暗流没有去处
你以挺直的腰
傲视周遭的诽言恶语
风依旧冷冷的吹
世界还是没有停止运转
你始终如一
笔直的竖立在
一个黑白难分，正邪莫辩的
时空里，
笑看人生[Dark currents have no place to go
Your posture is straight
You stand, proud, against slander
The wind is cold as it blows
The world has yet to stop turning
You have always been the same
Standing perfectly upright
In a time and space where
It is hard to distinguish black and white, good and evil,
You look upon this life with a smile]
Amidst the complexities of a broader environment, the speaker encourages people to live like his “sunflower” – strong and without having to lose oneself, to persevere and remain upright, such that a journey into the “human world” does not come to waste.
Conclusion
As a pioneering modernist poet of Singaporean Sinophone poetry, Xie Qing has utilised symbolism and imagery flexibly to give new forms to his work, fully demonstrating his attitudes toward his time and his environment while also representing new directions in modernist poetry. In particular, his early work in the 1970s reflects his experimentation and pursuit of “modernist” creative methods. Xie Qing’s poetic style in the decades after differed drastically from his previous style, becoming less impassioned and more lyrical and life-affirming. Xie Qing’s work displays different colours across different periods, providing readers with a multifaceted way of understanding the poet and his work.
Note on this essay’s title
In the early 1960s, a dispute arose in the world of Singaporean Sinophone poetry between realism and modernism, with several literati penning articles discussing their views on ‘modernism’ in newspapers. The writer Zhong Qi published an article titled “Modernism: The Opposing Current of New Poetry”, in which he called “modernism” a “poisonous weed” in the garden of poetry (Zhang and Zhang, “Introduction: Traces of a Muse”, 2018).
Works cited
200 Keywords. Edited by Liao Ping Hui. Taipei, Taiwan. Rye Field Publishing Co. 2018.
Teo, Eng Hao. Singapore Chinese modern poetry and the idea of the modern (1959-1982). Master’s thesis. Singapore. Nanyang Technological University. 2014.
Xie Qing. A Weeping God: The Poems of Xie Qing. Singapore. May Poetry Society. 1971.
Xie Qing. Crane Tracks: The Poems of Xie Qing. Singapore. Baili Colour Printing. 1979.
Xie Qing. No Trace. Singapore. Self-published. 2020.
Zhang, Songjian and Zhang Senlin. “Introduction: Traces of a Muse”. Sing'Phone: An Anthology of Singapore's Chinese Poetry. Edited by Zhang Songjian and Zhang Senlin. Singapore. Centre for Chinese Language and Culture and Global Publishing. 2018.
