餘秀華 穿越大半個中國來睡你

She attained fame overnight, almost rudely. But then she is no ordinary poet, for she has been serving the three muses of poetry, Calliope, Euterpe and Erato, for 16 years.

她一夜成名，以近乎瘋狂的方式席捲各大媒體。而她並不僅僅是一位普通的詩人，她創作詩歌已有十六年之久。（注：文中繆斯女神卡利俄佩，歐忒爾佩和厄剌托出自希臘神話，分別掌管史詩，音樂和愛情詩）

Yu Xiuhua is a farmer and all of 39 years old. She lives in Zhongxiang of Central China`s Hubei province, and has been called by the media as the "poetess with cerebral palsy (a condition characterized by movement problems)". Yu broke through social media WeChat recently after Poetry magazine twitted her poem, Crossing Big China to Sleep With you.

餘秀華是一位三十九歲的農民，住在湖北省鍾祥市，被媒體稱爲“腦癱（主要症狀爲行動困難）的女詩人”。在《詩刊》微信公衆號推送了她的詩《穿越大半個中國去睡你》之後，餘秀華在微信圈一夜成名。

Many media outlets have talked about her and her poems but their approach has been somewhat complicated. They have indeed praised her poems saying they carry real feelings and the power to move hearts. But, unwittingly or otherwise, their focus seems to be on her physical and social conditions, with one media outlet describing her as "a countrywoman who composes poems".

諸多媒體對她和她的詩都議論紛紛，但他們報道的角度卻多少有些複雜。他們稱讚她的詩確有真情、直擊人心；但有意無意間，他們的注意力似乎都集中在她的身體狀況和社會境遇上，比如，就有媒體稱她爲“寫詩的村婦”。

The woman described by some media outlets as "China`s Emily Dickinson", the famous American poet, dropped out of senior high school, has lived the life of a farmer since and does suffer from cerebral palsy.

也有媒體將她比作“中國的艾米莉•迪金森”（著名的美國女詩人）。餘秀華在高中時輟學，此後一直過着農民的生活，並遭受腦癱之苦。

But none of her physical traits, or the lack of them, have anything to do with her ability to compose poems. In the world of poetry, the only things that matter are words, and the feelings and meanings they carry. And her poem, Crossing Big China to Sleep With You, conveys that feeling, full as it is with passion: "Across China, all is happening: volcanoes are erupting, rivers are running dry...I pressed nights into a dawn to sleep with you, I gathered all I am to sleep with you".

但她的身體狀況，或者說身體缺陷與她作詩的才能並無關聯。在詩歌的世界中，唯一重要的就是文字，以及它所表達的情感和意義。而她的詩《穿越大半個中國去睡你》，確確實實飽含激情：“火山在噴，河流在枯……我是把無數的黑夜摁進一個黎明去睡你，我是無數個我奔跑成一個我去睡你。”

That she became famous overnight mainly because of media hype, rather than on the basis of her works, is a reflection of the times we live in. By using offensive epithets such as "poetess with cerebral palsy" or "countrywoman who composes poems", media outlets have succeeded in catching the eyes of readers and viewers.

她的一夜成名主要源自媒體炒作，而非作品本身，而這正是我們所處時代的一個縮影。爲了吸引觀衆、讀者們的眼球，媒體不惜使用一些無禮的綽號，比如稱她爲 “腦癱女詩人”或是“寫詩的農村婦女”。

Yet the irony is, without the media offensive, Yu Xiuhua the poet and her works would have remained unknown to ordinary readers. Media reports contrasting Yu`s physical disability with her creative mind have moved, even inspired, many people.

諷刺地是，如果沒有媒體的大肆報道，普通讀者也許根本不會知道餘秀華和她的作品。媒體報道中她的身體缺陷與才華所呈現出來的強烈反差，卻也因此感動了很多人，甚至激勵了很多人。

True, John Milton overcame his blindness at 43 to be acclaimed as a great English poet and W.B. Yeats, despite his undiagnosed learning disorder, reached the wuthering heights of poetry. But they were different people living in different times. Today, a poet needs more than the medium of poetry to be heard by readers, which speaks volumes about the state of the arts, poetry included, in contemporary society.

誠然，約翰•彌爾頓在四十三歲時克服失明之痛並被譽爲英國的偉大詩人，葉芝深受病因不明的閱讀障礙症之苦，但還是攀上了詩歌的巔峯，但是他們生活在不同的時代，有着不同的個人情況。當今時代，詩人不能單憑詩歌來吸引讀者，而這種局面充分反映了當代包括詩歌在內的藝術的生存狀態。

The 1980s are regarded as the golden age of modern poetry in China, when many poets enchanted readers with their excellent creations. But the fact Yu`s works have touched many people`s hearts today is proof of her poetic power. As literature professor and poet Zang Di has said in an interview, she uses her language as her body. Perhaps the sincerity and purity of thought expressed in Yu`s poems, which today`s society seems devoid of, have drawn readers to her poems.

上個世紀80年代被認爲是中國現代詩歌的黃金時代，許多詩人的優秀作品使讀者們如癡如醉。餘秀華的詩歌打動了無數人，這就是她詩歌中力量的最好證明。正如北京大學中文系教授、詩人臧棣在採訪中所說，她把語言直接當成了身體。或許，正是餘秀華詩歌中真誠而純粹的思想表達爲她贏得了讀者，而這種真誠和純粹正是當今社會所缺乏的。

The last word, in this regard, rests with John Keats, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty," - that is all: Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. If the combination of truth and beauty which Yu seems to represent rekindles people`s passion for poetry, media hype or not, so be it.

最後，讓我們以約翰•濟慈的詩做結：“美即是真，真即是美”，那就是你們所知，和你們該知的一切。如果餘秀華的詩歌中所代表的真與美的結合可以喚醒人們對於詩歌的熱情，那麼這到底是不是媒體炒作，又有什麼關係呢！