Catherine Candano’s “Exercise: Unlearning “Heart”” [Read the poem here]
(First published in issue #7 of Cha)

The Chinese character “Heart” is a relatively ’simple’ character: ‘a sparse picture / of the heart’ (L7-L8). “Love” is much more complicated: it has thirteen strokes. Because of this, ‘Chinese taught their young to write out “heart” / first, before they learnt the harder one, “love”‘ (L9-L10). Two things about the Chinese are implied here. First, they choose only to teach certain characters to the young people. “Heart” and “Love” are appropriate. (“Hate”, I think, is probably not.) Second, they follow steps: we don’t learn to run before we learn to walk (or crawl).

For those who do not know Chinese: in the character “Love” (see above), “Heart” sits in the middle, compressed but secure. The meaning is unambiguous: to love you must have a heart. And this organ cannot be placed randomly: it must be put right in the centre. See, the Chinese writing system is mostly rational and iconic. (Note, however, that in simplified Chinese, “Heart” is taken out from “Love”. This is one of the reasons why I think the simplified writing system is inferior. It tells you that “Love” does not need a “Heart”.)

But Candano’s poem is not only about calligraphy. It is also about the memories of ‘First Aunt’ and the calligraphy lessons she gave. In the first stanza, we are offered abundant information about these lessons: they took place in the afternoon, the persona was sat on a big chair (perhaps the chair was big because she was small), the cup that held the ink was ‘chipped’ (L5), the pen was made of rabbit’s hair (L6). In the second stanza, we are told that the persona was learning to write out “Heart”, as a prelude to the more difficult character, “Love”.

But that particular lesson is incomplete, halted. No actual writing ensues.

The stanza break between the second and third stanzas also divides the past and the present. In the third stanza, the persona continues in the present what she left behind in the past, that is, the writing out of “Heart”: ‘Rice paper is on the desk now, as thin as when / I first learnt to move brush along its lenghth’ (L13-L14 italics mine). What’s changed between the two scenes? While previously ‘First Aunt’ is supposedly physically present, now she is reduced to a benevolent voice: ‘I can hear her lesson’ (L16), ‘I still hear her’ (L26) and ‘(First child, repeat after me)’ (L29).

The persona, now alone but not lonely, confidently writes out the first two strokes of the ‘ebony character’ (L7). At the same time, she remembers First Aunt’s valuable lesson: ‘Too thin a line makes too thin a heart’ (L30). This line (both the calligraphy line and the line in the poem) embodies Buddhist simplicity and wisdom.

No doubt what character the persona will write next; and that will be a tribute to her beloved calligraphy teacher.

Ouyang Yu’s “Bad English” [Read the poem here]
(First published in issue #4 of Cha)

As someone whose second language is English, this poem resonated with me. I suppose that some people may find it slightly offensive, as it appears to make fun of non-native English speakers. But is there something else underneath this gentle mocking? I think there is as this poem not only provides a commentary on the versatility of the English language, it also suggests a kind of fresh perspective that non-native speakers can bring to the language.

At the beginning of the poem, the main character, an aging professor teaching English in China, finds himself facing the realities of old age: ‘Teaching English in China / The old professor can’t help / The fact that his hair is turning grey’ (L1-L3). But it is not just old age that is changing his hair, but teaching in China itself. In the next stanza, the poem subtly begins to reveal what about his experience in the middle kingdom is aging him quickly: ‘An email letter leaves him / Upset for days without knowing why’ (L4-L5). There is a hint to the cause of his distress, and therefore his greying hair, in the slight strangeness of ‘an email letter’. More is unveiled when we learn the email ‘begins with this: ‘Dear Mr professor Richard” (L6). The email, obviously from a student, is almost comical in its poor English usage and is clearly a source of much frustration for the professor. The poem goes on: ‘Student papers are written in such a way / That how much effort goes into fixing them / He invariably sees a new English cropping up postgraduateswise’ (L7-L9).

In the fourth stanza, the poet quotes some examples of this ‘new English’ used by the students: ”I felt boring when days after days were spent meaninglessly’ / ‘He doted him and he doted her’ / ‘Grandma cared me so much she does something out of expectation” (L10-L12). The poet’s examples are well chosen. It is indeed a hard task for Asian speakers to learn the difference between the –ed participle and the –ing participle in cases such as ‘boring’ and ‘bored’; no matter how many times someone is told that ‘boring’ describes the characteristics of something and ‘bored’ is a feeling, it is still easy to confuse them. In the second example, we see the omission of the preposition ‘on’. Forgetting or misusing a preposition or prepositional phrase is a common mistake for English learners, especially because their rules must often be memorised and can seem arbitrary or contradictory. (It may also be possible that there is some confusion in the use of personal pronouns. Is the same person doting on both a man and a woman as is suggested by the sentence? Or are a man and a woman supposed to be doting on one another?) The third example consists of a number of mistakes, even though the word choice reveals a nearly comprehensible meaning.   

Comprehensible meaning: perhaps this is the most we can expect from the majority of second-language learners. The professor seems resigned to this fact in the following stanza: he ‘decides that it’s probably just as well / His grasshopper arms powerless against the onslaught / Of an English in spite of itself’ (L13-L15). To demonstrate his new found attitude, he decides as a farewell to use the students’ own language: ‘So, in his last class, he found time to speak / Their language’ (L16-L17). Deliberately copying and echoing the students’ grammatical mistakes, he describes his excitement about going home: ‘I felt exciting at the thought / Of returning to Oz as living here I often feel boring // I objected myself speaking such bad English’ (L17-L19).

The possessive pronoun ‘their’ is loaded with meanings. The professor is not really using ‘their’ language, as the students’ language would be Chinese. Is there a hint of Western arrogance here? It would seem so as the use of the word ‘their’ also reveals a sense of superiority, a feeling that his students are not speaking real English or at least the English he considers proper. Perhaps this is why the professor has decided to ‘return to Oz’ (note the literary and possibly geographical reference here), fearing that his English is deteriorating while in China. Or are we being too harsh on the professor? ‘Their’ may just suggest that he is trying to show his fondness for his students in a humorous way by mocking them affectionately. The last lines may show that the professor has true admiration for his students’ innovative and unconventional use of English: ‘I do care you and I admire you / For things like this: ‘On that day’s noon’ / And your brilliant slips of pen, like this: / ‘We must all uphold human tights” (L20-L23). Regardless of the professor’s true emotion, the last line may be a serious comment on the state of China. Does the students’ use of ‘human tights’ reflect on the country’s failure to respect ‘human rights’?

One of my close friends, who is now teaching English in China, has had similar experiences with his students. However, as a Westerner, he is unsure if it would be appropriate for him to write such a poem, as it may be seen as offensive by some. Do you think that this is the case? And would it change your view on the poem if it were written by a local Chinese person or a person of Asian descent who had grown up in the West?