Saturday, 19 September 2015

Harry Gilonis - Li Shang-yin 'the Inlaid Harp'

Harry Gilonis is a poet, editor, publisher, and occasional critic. Much of his work is inter-textual, involving widely-varying modes of translation and mis-translation.  He has active for a while now with North Hills, a project of 'faithless' recastings of classical Chinese poetry - which turns out to be the most avant-garde writing up until L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E.  (Selections from North Hills have appeared in e.g. Wheel River from Contraband and eye-blink from Veer Books.) The postcard re-presented here was made as a unique contribution to Chris Goode and Jonny Liron’s World of Work, a performance-piece improvised in real time from a pack of 60-odd cards, first presented at the 2010 second Sussex Poetry Festival in Brighton.  

Li Shang-yin is perhaps the most rebarbatively baroque poet in the Chinese classical tradition, and the zither-poem is arguably his most difficult single text, still defying convincing exegesis a thousand-plus years on.  Thanks to Andy Spragg for the initial invitation and for his subsequent patience; much appreciated.


All work remains the product of the named writer, and although we encourage you to reproduce and distribute the work, we ask that you adhere to the following Creative Commons license.

No comments:

Post a Comment