Ye Hui, "The Witch"

I promise I'll talk about poetry in this newsletter. You can scroll down the page to a short plan for writing about Ye Hui's "The Witch" if you like. But I had better mention what's happening politically, because it isn't just a feeling that everything is on the line:

7 million people just protested Trump; 2% of the U.S. population was in the streets. How is he reacting?

Those of you who participated in the "No Kings" protests may not know how right you were. The House of Representatives is in potentially indefinite recess and SCOTUS is famous for having given Trump immunity from prosecution. The federal government has completely ceded power to the executive.

My thanks to all of you who marched. If you're not doing so already, I hope you will get more involved with building solidarity locally and giving to worthy causes. I know I don't have to tell you that established Democratic politicians and mainstream media are not terribly useful at this time. Neither can handle a President willing to use drones to blow up random fishermen or place the military in U.S. cities. They will not respond to the crassness and vulgarity which mark his power. Here's what he posted on his Truth Social after the rallies (cw: disgusting depictions of bodily functions):

Al-Arabiya calls what AI Trump dumps "mud," but you know exactly what it is. The AI video has Trump in a fighter jet labelled "King Trump." He ascends into the air, wearing a crown, and literally shits on protesters in U.S. cities. Not for nothing are some calling Trump the "diarrhea President."

A number of people, not just journalists working for storied institutions, would find it beneath themselves to comment on the President's behavior. Why can't we dismiss it as gratuitous? We know he's shameless; this is expected. Why should we ask members of his party whether this is acceptable or members of the opposition how they plan to punish him?

And you know the answer: this is a remarkable escalation rhetorically. He is very clearly saying to at least 7 million people, to a 61% disapproval rating on inflation (his signature issue), that he will shit on them. This is not to minimize the human cost of the Trump administration so far. The U.S. under his watch has sent innocent people to all kinds of terrible places just because, when it hasn't beaten people in the streets or actually killed them. This is to observe that the President is going out of his way to minimize mass mobilization against him. An extremely newsworthy development, one you should discuss with those you know.

Ye Hui, "The Witch"

This little poem stuns. For some reason, you are "on the bridge," confronted by a "village witch." My mind flashes briefly to movies where a troll or riddle had to be bested. But only briefly, as there is no indication of comedy in these few lines. Instead, there are hints of a dream: a bridge over what? A witch from what village? These are gaps you must fill, and you do not fill them with concrete details, but rather intuitions about what fits.

The Witch (from Poetry)
Ye Hui (translated by Dong Li)

On the bridge
A village witch
Tells me

You see nothing
Clearly, since in all your eyes
A fog gathers generations

The witch says "You see nothing / Clearly, since in all your eyes / A fog gathers generations." Dong Li, the translator, notes the abrupt shift from a singular (me) to a plural ("all your eyes"). For Li, this is part of a "poetics that collects and connects and ultimately reveals the recurring reality of being one and mysteriously everything."

I think Li has the essence of the puzzle down. I would like to expand on it, since for me, the spell this poem casts entails a deepening disorientation. The "bridge" and the "village" were strange enough for this encounter. Was I supposed to know either? The witch proclaiming "You see nothing / Clearly" is the one statement of this poem which fits the facts. I don't know the bridge, I don't know the village, I don't know why the witch is talking to me. Was I seeking power? Mere direction? A homecoming or reunion? If intuitions form shadows around this poem, they create a sea of illogic. I have not thought through how I feel–the feelings I have are simply grasping for what makes immediate sense. Even if it all adds up, it shouldn't.

And that brings us to that final, damning statement. Nothing is seen clearly because "in all your eyes / A fog gathers generations." This sounds similar to the notion of only seeing the future with one eye, because the other eye must look to the past. Or to the idea that we are always haunted by the ghosts of our family. The richness of "A fog gathers generations" is unique, though, and it is happening to "all your eyes." Blinded not by the past, not by ghosts, but by the generations wrapped up in fog. Everyone shrouded in the mystery of memory and loss. At times, it is hard to remember important details about those we love. When we consider the compound effect this has, it is as if the generations which compose us are a blur.

Tomorrow I am running a small writing workshop. I plan on introducing this poem as part of a prompt. Participants are free to write on any aspect they feel like, but I'm interested in that theme of being blinded by generations. I'd like to hear more about how such a thing is possible. In terms of craft, how do we evoke this without casting family as a generator of villainy or nostalgia? One might say Ye Hui's achievement here is putting the problem of "generations" squarely on that of the individual. How do you want to deal with what affects you?