A Glance

A Glance Zheng Min (bio) Translation from the Chinese after Rembrandt's Young Woman at an Open Half-Door (1645) Beautiful are the shoulders sinking into the shadowslocking her chest, rich as an orchard. Only her radiantface, a dream, suddenly appearing, correspondsto the slim fingers that rest on the low threshold door. In the trees of hours, river clock carries away another leaf.From her eyes, half-lowered, mysterious, flows outa tranquility that blinds. Her eternal calm faces a hurriedbut limited life when in an evening, by chance, she casts a glancethat lasts at this ever-changing world. Click for larger view View full resolution workshop of rembrandt van rijn, young woman at an open half-door (1645), oil on canvas, 102.5 x 85.1 cm, mr. and mrs. martin a. ryerson collection, the art institute of chicago / cc0 public domain Translator's note: In her early twenties, Zheng Min was influenced by some of the most important early modernists in China such as Feng Zhi, Bian Zhilin, Shen Congwen, Wang Zuoliang, et al. while a student at Southwest United University (a joint unit of Beijing University, Qinghua University, and Nankai University) during World War II. "A Glance" (undated) was first published in 1946. Her first collection of poetry, Poems 1942–1947, includes a few other poems inspired by paintings, showing her early interest in art. Using paintings, sculpture, and music as springboards to poetry informed Zheng's practice throughout her writing career, which reflected the influence of Wen Yiduo, but she seemed to focus more on the visual effect and musicality of the total structure of the poems running through the lines. [End Page 38] Zheng Min Zheng Min (1920–2022) was one of the most important poets from China. She taught poetry at Beijing Normal University from 1960 till retirement in 2006. Her Collected Poems appeared in 2016. Also an accomplished translator and critic, she published Contemporary American Poetry (1987) and four books of critical essays on Western philosophy and comparative poetics. Ming Di Ming Di is a Chinese poet living in the US with six books of poetry published in China. Co-founder and editor of PoetryEastWest, she translates both ways and has published four books of poetry in Chinese translation and two anthologies. She received the 2021 Lishan Poetry Award (for translation) in China. Copyright © 2022 World Literature Today and the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma

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