解读大运河的精神密码——嘉兴诗人柳文龙精选诗集《彼岸千年》（中英文双语版）正式发行

　　浙江省诗路文化带“大运河诗丛”由南湖区政府牵头，近日由花山文艺出版社出版，丛书共收录了《我扶着大运河歌唱》（黄亚洲著）、《江南运河情》（赵振元著）、《仁庄纪事2》（晓弦著）、《贯穿我的河》（北塔著）、《运河上的时间》（伊甸著）、《彼岸千年》（柳文龙著）、《运河上的月光》（查杰慧著）七本著作。这是中国首套大运河诗歌丛书（中英文双语版），也是浙江省大运河诗路文化建设的一项重要成果。其中柳文龙老师的诗集《彼岸千年》发行后，受到了很多读者的好评，有读者留言：他的诗是江南的一张面孔，是江南文化的缩影，是承载了大运河丛书南水北调的使命。
　　他异乎寻常的语言开拓诗的无垠疆野，以灵动的触笔，充满个性化的色彩，呈现出两种审美情趣，抒写了完美的艺术境像。为此，我们特刊出一泓秋水的评论《会呼吸的诗》以飨读者，并向“大运河诗丛”的出版致以热烈的祝贺！ 　　在古老的《诗经 · 国风》里，江南文化是阙如的。因而，近年兴起的“江南文化地理”概念，具有重绘中国文化地图的重要意义。中英文双语版《大运河诗丛》—— 聚焦于具有江南文化特色的运河诗篇，在很大程度上讲，构成了新时代的“国风”。它的出版将会构成诗坛重要事件，引发广泛关注。柳文龙诗集《彼岸千年》  (北塔等英译) 就是这套诗丛之一种。 　　诗集《彼岸千年》包括《花非花》《雾非雾》《夜半来》《天明去》四卷。柳文龙的诗歌属于典型的江南才子诗歌形态。他为我们定格了江南文化的灵魂剪影：

他一次次濯足，身影入水即化
仿佛羽化了，登天时发出吱嘎声
河流，一片倒映的天空
这么多年了，他展翅的时空之美
为大地保留一份辽阔

　　—— 《常在河边走》

　　“江南才子”是对一个人的才情才华与聪明睿智的认定。在传统文化中，江南才子诗歌呈现的是江南文化缜密的思维品质：对于大自然的敏锐感知，对于季节风物的细腻感觉，对于情感体验的坦诚流溢，对于语言表达的精微追求。确实，在柳文龙的诗作中，他充分张扬了江南才子诗歌的风貌。他特别讲究炼字炼句、炼意炼象。他敏感于意象的尖新：“江湖，我的扁舟狭小如扁桃体 / 红肿后一直在找寻消肿的夜晚” ( 《胡枝子的花季》) ；他敏感于色彩的通感：“桑林古老，它的洞察力 / 紫色的红，微蓝之红 / 一缕无形的丝线勾出魂魄 / 酿出甜度——在肉体内发腻 / 像卸了骨头、卸了妆的小飞蛾” ( 《桑林之霭》 ) ；他敏感于细微的声音：春风“不停地摇曳，听到一只云雀的欢呼/听到筋骨磨损的声音”(《春天里》)，“欸乃船橹声，河水恢复宁静 / 黄雀磨圆舌尖 / 一串串鸟鸣呼之欲出” ( 《等待春天》 ) ；他敏感于在奇崛中道出常情：“今晚，归鸟找到了故乡 // 树头月亮，像它们高悬的窠巢 / 一次次带着月晕飞去/多少羽毛褪去浮华外表” (《九月的乡野》 ) ……
　　在柳文龙的诗歌世界里，审美形态是精致的，柔和的，缓慢的，幽静的，婉约的，慵懒的，安逸的，幸福的，动作幅度小，力度小，多倾向于“无我之境”。在这里，冬天的雪也是“温暖的飘落” ( 《江南的雪》)，反目成仇也是“假装的”  ( 《水乡》) ，“满地飘零唯美的象征”  (《冬天怀念一株秋菊》) 。这一切，营构出一个柔腻无骨的袖珍型的江南文化模型，“空有化骨绵掌的法力” (《水势坚硬》) ，“虚幻的骨骼和肉体分离”  (《斑驳》) 。当然，在尽情描摹逼真的自然风物与人性人情之外，柳文龙也在拓展疆域，开阔现实世界的视野，《泛活的古桥》《田畈》等诗，虽然写的“痛定思痛”并没有多少刻骨之感，但毕竟在“飘逸”之美的底色里展示了人间图景，充满了生活气息。他在《陌上桑》《桑 葚，暗红的气息》《上山》等诗中，通过对蚕这一意象的刻画， 入木三分地写出了它们的命运感：“那为生缠绕的万丝千缕 /那被死缠绕的五花大绑 / 缚成了一个个轻质的谜团”  (《陌上桑》)。

蚕蛹刚毅的心境
并非作茧自缚的空间
叩它薄壁，生命坚如磐石
扭曲身躯—— 丝线被长夜卷入
带着爆裂伤口，嘴里喊出：不枉一世
　　—— 《桑葚，暗红的气息》

眠蚕扭转腰肢，拂动着水汽
它们骨头溶于血、溶于水
嘴里噙着石头般韧性
沉浸在稻草铺就的逃亡路
——金色的光芒，私奔天堂
　　—— 《上山》

　　缠绕与蜕变，伤痛与韧性，束缚与逃亡，构成了蚕的一 生，也正隐喻了人类的命运。这种诗写无疑大大提升了江南才子诗歌的品质。我期待着柳文龙这种风格的作品越来越多，越来越丰富。
　　江南才子诗歌这一类型，往往也会带来一些值得警惕的问题，比如格局不够开阔，境界不够高远，静美有余而刚健不足，敏于文辞而弱于气息。我想起了木心先生对江南文化的理解。木心说，传统文化里有两个“江南”，一个是“无骨的江南”，一个是“有骨的江南”。说的大概就是“吴文化” 与“越文化”的不同。木心祖籍绍兴，生于乌镇。但他更认同“越文化”，自称是“绍兴的希腊人”。鲁迅先生对江南文化大有贬低之意。他对来自苏州、无锡的文化人多有嘲讽。他说：“我不爱江南。秀气是秀气的，但小气。听到苏州话，就令人肉麻。此种言语，将来必须下令禁止。”鲁迅先生意 在呼唤以北方的刚健民风来改造南方的柔弱与矫饰。不过，鲁迅这话儿也真是够狠的！ 　　可喜的是，我在柳文龙的诗集中，看到了他的诗歌裂变的进路——在吴侬软语中实现“变脸”。他开始从单纯的唯美风格走向更加丰富而驳杂的浑厚风格，他正在从农耕时代诗学走向现代性的诗学形态，逐渐形成富有个性的辨识度。我最欣赏第四卷中的一些篇什。在《冬读：范蠡湖梳妆台》《题伍相祠照壁》《冬至 —— 沉默的语言》《祭祖帖》《槐树头》《勺园》《盘门》《船过王江泾》《放鹤洲旧事》等诗作里，家国情怀，杂色历史，生死玄思，无不具有鲜明的反思意识，呈现为沉郁顿挫的厚重诗风。他将前朝遗事曝光在阳光下：“前人栽下的紫薇，终成障碍 / 假山层叠，露出原来模样/江南烟雨气息/绵延湖面一片苍茫慈光”(《勺园》)。他解构了传统文化的超稳定结构：“老者，以守门人的意识作祟 / 城门固化为人间俗物”“没有什么比濠河更熟悉城垣坚固 / 苔藓吸附久远的气息 / 守门人嘴唇干裂，词不达意 / 瓮城变换着颜色/闭紧城门，维系城池固有的/秩序”(《盘门》)。尤其是《读朱彝尊〈桂殿秋〉》和《读柳如是〈踏莎行〉》两首，实乃向先贤朱彝尊和柳如是致敬之作。柳文龙在灵魂共鸣的基础上，将文本、历史、自我三方面浇筑为一体，充分彰显出历史温度、人文情怀与个体生命体验。这是从江南   才子诗歌标本中走出来的一次成功“变脸”。

　　这套诗丛的结集出版，正好为我们反思江南文化地理提供了一个契机。我想，反思江南文化大概可以从三个维度进行：一是在江南文化内部看江南，辨析吴文化和越文化两幅江南面孔的内在肌质与纹理；二是在江南文化地理之外看江南，形成超越地域性的反思眼光；三是在“运河文化”这一跨区域的整体性空间里，反思江南文化地理的特性并且寻找超越 性维度。在这个“大运河诗群”里，柳文龙是非常值得期待的一位。
Preface
　　Translated by Guo Jinfeng and Fu Yitao .The culture of the South of Yangtze is absent in poems of The Book of Songs. “Cultural Geography of the South of Yangtze”. The Chinese and English version of The Grand Canal Poetry Series, arranged by the Federation of Literary and Art Circles of Nanhu District, Jiaxing City, gathers the poems about the Canal which are full of culturalcharacters of the South of Yangtze and forms the “regional songs” in the new age to a great extent. Its publishing will be an important event for circles of poets and will win wide attentions. The poetry book A Thousand Years of the Other Shore(translated into English by Bei Ta,et, al)by Liu Wenlong is one of the series.
　　This book has four volumes respectively titled “Flowers Are not Flowers”, “Fog Is not Fog”, “It’s Midnight”and“Setting out at Daybreak”. Liu Wenlong’s poems are typical ones written by talents of the South of Yangtze and set the souls and images of the culture of the South of Yangtze.

He washes his feet repeatedly with his shadow melting in the water  Seeming to have ascended to heaven and become immortal with creaks 
The canal is a piece of inverted reflection of the sky 
For so many years the beauty of his spread wings
Has preserved the vastness for the great earth
　　　　——Walking by the Canal7

　　The title “talent of the South of Yangtze” is the recognition of someone’s wisdom and intelligence. In traditional culture, their poems present meticulous thoughts, sensitivity to nature and subtle feelings for scenes and objects in different seasons. They also present the frank expression of feelings and experiences and pursuit of preciseness of language. In fact, he gives expression to all the qualities mentioned above in his poems and takes heeds on word selection, sentence making and image creation. He is sensitive to unique images “against the river in the night, / my skiff is as small as a tonsil / after it got inflamed, I looked all the time for the night of relief”(Blossoming Season of Lespedeza); he is sensitive to synesthetic color “The old mulberry forest was shining with its insight/ With purple redness and blue redness/ A shapeless silk thread drew out the souls/ Brewed sweetness and cloyed inside the flesh/ Like a tiny moth with its bones and makeup removed”(Haze around the Mulberry Forest); he is sensitive to subtle sounds – spring breeze “is swaying ceaselessly, I hear a sky lark hailing and muscles and bones being abraded”(In the
spring), “After the sound of sweep, the canal recovered tranquility/The siskin has ground its tongue tip. Songs of birds seemed to be ready to come out at my calls”(Waiting for the Spring); he is sensitive to expressing common feelings from unique scenes “Tonight, the returning birds have found their homeland/ The moon above the
heads of trees, is like their highly suspended nest/ Flies away again and again with the halo/ How many feathers have cast off their showy appearance. ”(The Countryside in September)…

　　In Liu Wenlong’s poetry, aesthetic images are delicate, soft, slow,quiet, graceful, idle, peaceful, cozy and happy. The movements are small and forces are weak and they often strive towards an“egoless state”. In his poems, the snow in the winter “drifts down warmly”(Snow of the South of Yangtze), friends pretend to become foes(The Water Land), and“Aesthetic symbols fading and falling all around”(Miss an Autumn Chrysanthemum in Winter). All these images form a gentle and exquisite mini model of the culture of the South of Yangtze — “No use for us to have continuous palm strokes with the power of breaking bones”(The Hard Water Potential). Ofcourse, while depicting the natural scenes and humanity vividly, he expands his boundaries and explores wider domain of the realistic world. In poems like The Vigorous Ancient Bridge and Field, he recalls painful experiences that nevertheless lack biting sentiment,but he still shows us the beautiful scenes with elegance which is full of the flavor of life. In poems like Mulberry by the Road, Mulberry,Dark Red Breath, Going up the Hill, etc., he portrays the life and fates of silkworms in penetrating ways by creating the images of silkworms – “Thousands of threads intertwining for life/And tens of ropes tying up tight to death/Have been made into light reels of enigmas”(Mulberry by the Road).

The resolute mood of the pupa
Was not a space for it to get enmeshed in the web of its own spinning
Knocking the thin wall inside which there is a life as hard as stone
Twisting the body——the silk thread is rolled in by the long night
With its scar split suddenly, it shouts out: “my life is not in vain”
　　　——Mulberry, Dark Red Breath

Sleeping silkworms were twisting their waists and swirling the steam
With their bones melting in blood and water
And their mouths holding stone-like tenacity
Indulged on the path for escaping paved with straw
——The golden rays were eloping to the heaven
　　——Going up the Hill

　　The whole life of the silkworm comes down to bindings and transformation, aches and resilience, constraints and struggles, which metaphorically points at human life. This kind of poetry definitely improves the quality of those written by talents of the south of Yangtze. I expect that this style may be found in more works of LiuWenlong.
But some problems often arise with this kind of poetry and need to be cared about. Sometimes they are not broad-minded and far-sighted enough, excessively idyllic while lacking vigor, good at words but weak in spirits. I remember Mr. Mu Xin’s understanding of the culture of the South of Yangtze. He said that there are two traditional cultures of “the South of Yangtze”, one with bones and the other without,which represent the difference between “Wu” Culture and “Yue”Culture. In spite that Mr. Mu Xin was born in Wuzhen, his ancestral hometown is Shaoxing City. He identified with the “Yue” culture more and claimed to be a Greek living in Shaoxing city. Mr. Lu Xun had belittling opinions about the culture of the South of Yangtze and sneered at the educated people from Suzhou City and Wuxi City. He said, “I don’t like the South of Yangtze. It’s elegant but stingy. The Suzhou Dialect is disgusting and should be prohibited in the future. ”He hoped that the vigorous Northern morale and mien could replace the delicateness and affectation of the south. But to be honest, his

words are a bit too harsh.

　　However, I have happily seen Liu Wenlong take a route to change in this poetry book – he has achieved face-changing in the soft Wu Dialect. From pure elegance to a richer and more miscellaneous style,his poems are changing from poetics of agrarianism to modernism and have gradually developed their own characters with personality.Some poems in Volume 4 are my favorites. From these poems like Reading in the Winter: Dresser by the Fan Li Lake, Lines on the Screen Wall of Wuxiang Temple, The Term of Winter Solstice——Silent Words, Letter for Offering Sacrifices to Ancestors, The Head of Locust Tree, The Spoon Garden, The Panmen Gate, A Boat through the Wang Jiangjing and Old Stories happened in Crane Island,we can see the affections for one’s country and family, all kinds of histories and visionary thoughts about life and deat.All these poems have distinct refl ective thoughts and present depressed but dignified poetic style. He puts the historical stories under the sunshine – “Crape myrtles planted by ancestors have finally become blockades. /Layers of fake hills remains/The mist and drizzles of the South of Yangtze/are lingering on the lake with a vast merciful light”(The Spoon Garden); He deconstructs the super stable structure of traditional culture – “The old man haunts with the sense of a porter/The city gate has been solidified into something secular /…/ No river is more familiar with solid city walls /Than the Haohe River. Mosses absorb the ancient air/With his lips dry, the porter’s words cannot express his ideas /The barbican entrance is changing its colors/ The gate is
closed to maintain the inherent order of the city”(The Panmen Gate).Especially he pays a tribute to Zhu Yizun and Liu Rushi respectively in the two poems On Reading Zhu Yizun’s “Autumn of the Laurel Palace” and On Reading the Song Poem “Walking on Sands” by Liu Rushi. On the basis of soul resonance, Liu Wenlong integrates the text, history and himself into a unified whole and fully shows the historical temperature, humanistic care and life experience. This marks his successful “face-changing” from traditional specimens of
the talents of the South of Yangtze.

　　The compilation and publishing of this Canal Poetry Series provide us with a great chance to look back on the cultural geography of the South of Yangtze. In my opinion, we may reflect in three dimensions:
First, from within the culture itself, we need to figure out differences...between the internal textures of “Wu” Culture and “Yue” Culture which represent two faces of the South of Yangtze. Second, from outside the cultural geography of the South of Yangtze, we need to develop a reflective insight on elements beyond it. Third, we need to reflect on the characters of the cultural geography of the region within the overall space of the cross-regional “canal culture” and find a transcendental dimension. Among “the group of poets from the Grand Canal”, Liu Wenlong would be the one who deserves special  expectation.
  　　白天的一场雨褪去了浮躁和闷热，坐在窗口下，在习习凉风中读柳文龙的书《彼岸千年》，别有一番浓浓的诗意。
　　我和柳文龙虽在同一个城市，但仅见过一次面，他的谦和儒雅，脱俗而入乡，给我留下了深刻的印象，他每天除了工作外，业余时间都在打磨文字。有人说:人一旦爱上了诗歌，想戒就很难，我想，这是千真万确的理。这些年来，柳文龙的作品常常在国内大平台和大型的文学报刊杂志上发表，二十多次在省级、国家级的诗歌征文中获奖，并被翻译成英文。出版诗集《观照》 《一个人的南方：新鸳鸯湖棹歌》和散文诗 集《米粒上的湖》《我心中的星辰大海》。他的诗歌是江南文化的缩影，是承载了大运河丛书南水北调的使命。
　　诗，是诗人的心声，是自己的人生观，世界观和强烈的感情充分的展示。柳文龙老师的诗，诗中有物，诗中有景，诗中所指，他的新诗集《彼岸千年》独立完成立意造境，意境采用情景双兼的手法。如:
 
菱花闭合的那个晚上
硕大的月盘挂满树梢
我足以看见清澈见底的，思想
翻开手中书卷，浩瀚烟波——
洇散于纸面的万里长空
为什么史书上浮云，逆流成河
     　——《运河边》

　　作者在运河边看到的，联想到的，给读者无限的诗意诗情和诗味，这首诗有高超的想像空间，语言优美，脉胳清淅，诗中表现出的那种旷达，何不感动读者？
 
每一个旋涡都是一座荒冢
埋葬王朝的御驾和龙舟
　　一一《运河边》

　　这是一条古老而又宽广的运河，运河有无数个旋涡，每个旋涡里都是一段历史，一个故事。
　　这就是诗歌中常常说的诗味，诗人用另外一种语言，让读者细细品读，突然间领悟到了什么。
　　柳文龙的诗是江南的一张面孔，有江南特有的气息，如:
 
进入秋天，水成了敏感词
作为秋燥产生的浮想
让骄阳过渡到暮色
乌桕树，卸下披挂一生的
大红大紫，带着华彩全身而退
留给我一个想象的湖泊
坚硬的水质，接受秋雨
接受每天——平静的生活方式
一株注定缺水的黄秋葵
我从叶蔓边缘窥视到
植物本来面目，仿佛对蝈蝈的
一点儿非分之心，一段浪漫时光
花荫遮盖的不凡理想
细微的奔流，产生巨大漩涡
哦，接近了蠕动的水沫
风中沉凝。现在水塘清澈
一株株花茎，高耸起一场细雨
我像一只出水的无齿蚌
珠胎暗结，苦苦思念
溢出一颗颗闪光的泪珠
       一一《秋水》

　　秋天是敏感的，这敏感不仅仅来自于季节，还来自于诗人对远方的思念。一场秋雨一场苦，唐代诗人孟浩然的诗：“木落雁南渡，北风江上寒”，我想，也不过如此吧。柳文龙以景抒情，巧妙的把有形转为无形，厚重又自然的融物融情于一炉，以灵动的触笔，充满个性化的色彩，呈现出二种审美情趣，抒写了完美的艺术镜像。
　　柳文龙作为一个生活在江南的诗人，对江南大自然的变化是敏锐感知的，他以诗歌特定的语言和风貌，书写江南:
 
小船进入雨季，它们仍是
河流凌厉的棱角，波浪踏破夜色
漂浮于水中的星光、远方……
牛屎田鸡巧做圈套
叫声婉约，带有一种乡野的甜味
      ——《夏至》

　　江南夏至的景象就在柳文龙的这几句诗里，夏至到了，梅雨季节来了，田鸡在牛耕地的时候，叫声婉约，如一幅优美的油画一样展示在读者眼前。
 　　柳文龙在诗中捕捉生活的气息，他异乎寻常的语言开拓诗的无垠疆野，以意念、隐喻，以一泻千里之势，对人生的拷问，对当今社会的赞颂，对自然现象的透视，对情感真挚流露。
　　大凡好诗，必有风骨和血肉，必有呼吸和灵性，柳文龙的诗正是如此，从他的诗里，我感到了永不停歇的大运河在用诗的语言呼吸。