Hi @kaixin
However, I don't know what HAM MONTGOMERY means. A capital city name of south US？Could you please tell me about it？
HAM MONTGOMERY is simply the character's slave name. In the first decades of slavery, when Africans were brought to the Americas (and also some to the UK) they weren't allowed their own African names, but were given western type names (as I called them their slave names). After generations had passed as children were born from parents of slaves, and they were then considered the property of the slave owners (often plantation owners), the parents usually weren't even allowed to name their own children, or if their masters were less strict they might let them name them if it was they considered a 'good Christian name', like Luke, John etc.
So in my poem the slave's name is Ham Montgomery (Ham is a shortened version of the name Hamond) and he has had his eyes cut and burned to be made an example of what will happen for learning how to read and write, or teaching other slaves to read and write. This is why I created the cover image so that his name was on the wall in blood.
In the mid to late 1800's one of the chief concerns of the wealthy plantation owners was that the slaves they kept might become educated to the point where they could escape and find work in the north of the USA where slavery had been abolished. It is a vast area of study, but basically everything the slave owners did from the early days of slavery to the later days was meant to destroy their African culture, names, language, and also just to keep them from any type of education that might allow them to organise in any way. But the human spirit is stronger than even the most evil acts of subjugation, and slaves made their own music (chanting as they worked which you can hear in the YouTube video I shared in that poem) which later was part of the influence for blues music, and many of them took the Christian faith to heart strongly as solace for the terrible lives that were forced upon them. I could talk about many other aspects of the history of slavery, but this comment is getting away from me and I’ve got to eat breakfast
Oh, I guess maybe you've never heard of "the Great Firewall" in China either, which should be one of the reasons why you would probably not easily discover the ancient Chinese poems.
One of my friend's married a Chinese woman, and lived in china for 12 years until they decided to move back to the UK with their two sons, so I do have a small knowledge of the great firewall, and the state control that the Chinese government impose on their citizens. I remember that my friend Jay would email me occasionally, and I would say "why don't you chat to me on Facebook?" And he would say "I can't access those sites." My friend was never very good with computers or technical stuff so he didn't want to mess around with VPN's even though I offered to teach him how to use one lol
From my perspective I just wish that many of the people in charge (in my country as well) weren't so sociopathic and power mad. It would make for a much more pleasant, safe and open world. I often wonder if we wouldn't be better off with a compassionate AI leading the countries of the world 😂 Humans really don’t seem to be doing a good job of it as they destroy the environment and murder each other in pointless wars.
Anyway, keep sharing Chinese poems on hive and I will get to see them that way 🙂 By the way. Do you know about the communities feature on hive? I think that if you shared your poetry posts in Blockchain Poets community many people would be interested to read them!
Oh, sorry, I have no idea about communities feature on hive and how to join the Blockchain poets community. I also don't think it's suitable for me to join any community. After all, I'm not the original author, and I only share these ancient Chinese poems if I am siezed by a whim. For example, when I watch a video on analysing a good ancient poem by chance, I can't help sharing it. Yeah, it took me for a long long time to meet a proper VPN. I know deeply how closed China is to foreigners. To some extent, we can even say China is similar to the so-called Hermit Kingdom: North Korea. I don't know if you have read a book named "In order to live" written by a rather famous North Korean defecter Yeonmi Park. Just as she said in her book:
"The information blockade works both ways: not only does the government attempt to keep all foreign media from reaching its people, it also prevents outsiders from learning the truth about North Korea. The regime is known as the Hermit Kingdom because it tries to make itself unknowable. Only those of us who have escaped can describe what really goes on behind the sealed borders. But until recently, our stories were seldom heard."
Not until a few years ago did I begin to see the world outside online by using VPN! Only God knows how most of VPN work badly! How precious it is for me to get a proper VPN! It seems that I just entered a vast treasure trove---having copious amounts of English-learning resources on Youtube for free! I got a lot of pleasure by following some wonderful free English-teaching videos!
Thank you for teaching me about slavery history so much. For my part, your first poem--The Cotton Road is easier to understand. I have learned a new word: desiccate from it. Another impressive word is teak. The dictionarty shows me that teak is a kind of expensive wood. I doubt why and how the slaves can afford to wear teak shoes. Maybe in the history of south US, teak is very common and cheap, ok？The reason why I am so curious about the wood is because my family have some antique furnitures from Qing Dynasty. Unfortunately, we don't make sure what specific wood they are made of all along. Recently someone told my father that they are the valuable rosewood, so my father hopes to sell part of them at an appropriate price. I'm considering if It is a good idea to share their pictures online later. Of course, if anyone is interested in the antique Chinese furnitures from Qing dynasty, welcome to hit me up!
Now I know Ham Montgomery is the slave's name in the second poem. I didn't realize that his eyes were cut and burned as a punishment for learning to read or teaching others from the beginning. I just guess it is because of being in the dark cellar without sunshine.
I sincerely wish I didn't bother you too much! My question is how to understand "bent out of shape"？What does "jagged blade" mean？Oh, I get it! The owner is scratching his eyes with the jagged blade of a knife! After that, they put the fire near to his bloody eyes again？Remade the light？Unimaginable！
Yeah, I have heard of their blues music. It is said that the famous Elvis Presley created his special music by mixing the blues.
Let me tell you another truth! I read this poem of yours again and again. When I finally realized that "a circle of meat" means "mouth", I smiled in my heart proudly like a naive child. Sometimes reading a good poem is as fun as guessing a riddle! The sentences such as "toes arc up from swollen sores", "flesh aches swallowing sleep, each throb ticking time" are describing the sharp pain so vividly and excellently! I know the feeling of how aches can swallow sleep! God, it is really such a bless to read your great writings for free! I still remember how happy and excited I felt when I read that article: the tale of Mercey Mermaid. I was impelled to take the liberty to leave a comment to you. Except it reminded me of the Wilde's fairy, I was associating your metaphor and vivid description in details with a famous writer named Zhang Ailing who is good at in detail description.
I once read a lot of her short stories(although they are writing in Chinese, the writing style is so similar).
I often marvel at the passion of one Youtube student who always writes the long long comment to our online English teacher. Who knows now I can also write the long comment with great enthusiasm in my broken English？Thanks to the magic of your great work---the real art！Just as you said, "if the poem/article doesn't elicit emotion then it fails as art."