Week 11: Work and Tears

"Boy Painting Lilies" by John Lautermilch (Thanks to FineArtAmerica)

But when you raise bitter intentions to lofty heights,
None would imagine that in ending the poem, the dusk of the way is tears
---- Mei Yaochen, "Poetry Addiction"

“但将苦意摩层宙，莫计终穷泣暮津。”（《诗癖》）[These lines are fairly mysterious to me still...]

This week I've decided firmly to re-approach Chinese poetry as a paying job, an artistic avocation, and a subplot of my dissertation.

First, the paying job: a 20,000-word article I accepted as a translation gig needs to be completed. Requires completion. Cries out for completion. And so I do it.

But at the same time, I profit myself more than monetarily by creating an archive of poetic expression that will be a resource for story creation. More on this soon!

Also, I will craft a section of chapter 1 of my dissertation to be called "Autobiography and Poetry in Chinese Literature." Or something like that. It will center on the quotidian as a pacte with the reader to develop genuine identities, and it will claim that the chronologically-organized poetry collection is a powerful form of life writing. Much, much more to come on this. (Possibly a new chapter to the dissertation. Sigh!)