简单语言的深层张力

——论马勇诗集 《闪过的意象》   

无尘

        看完马勇的诗集《闪过的意象》之后，我突然想起卡尔维诺在《未来千年文学备忘录》中讲到庄子画蟹的故事。庄子跟国王邀约十年，却只在最后一天一笔画成，从螃蟹外在绝美形态中植入了内在神韵，其作用是训导国王对降低对贪恋、欲望的渴求度，推迟、叠加成就感和愉悦感。这样的中国传统内涵被西方现代文化所引用，本身就属于外在形态和内在神韵的“部分结合”或“相对统一”。随着文化虚像和现实虚实关联的演变程度，“内”“外”已逐渐演化成二元对立的结构主义中互相交织的部分。但是无论外在是什么样的表现形态，作品的内在禅机一定经过了精神的塑造和转化，才能在作品外在形式的勾画中表现更深刻的内在韵味。

      《闪过的意象》这部诗集中，那些简单意象的诗，初看之下似乎平淡无奇，但细品之下，却能发现水面之下那深邃而丰富的世界。不探讨当今现代的诗歌之意象追求，就诗论诗而言，马勇的诗就像是一把钥匙，他笔下的意象，既有山川河流的自然之美，又有市井人烟的生活之趣。用简单的文字，捕捉了那些瞬间即逝的灵感，衔接着个体个性和大众共性之间的情感关系。像布迪厄提出的关键场域理论：个体的存在是强加在某个场域特定位置当中的。结合现代文化的发展，本体个体性质在整体共性的包容下会凸显自由和担当意识，个性在文化中所产生的张力地带既是个体的，又将会成为整体的；既是排斥的，又将会是自省和救赎的。以共性目标来左右个体自由精神的文化环境，一定会禁锢整体创造力；而驱使整体认可的共性发展创新，大部分是由极少部分“个性”所带动。所以，最终会被认可的“个性”和整体之间，存在时间或空间等畛域地带。

      作为爱诗者，每天看到不尽其数的诗歌作品，说实话阅读起来多少出现点疲劳现象。而马勇的诗却能让我眼前一亮，我感觉他的每一首诗都像是一个小小的宇宙，仿佛置身于一个全新的世界，感受着诗人的情感和思考，对于生命的敬畏，对于自然的热爱，对于人性的洞察，都是从诗歌创作中的心理、情感、叙事等方面入手，深入理解其艺术魅力。马勇以连续性意象巧妙串联主题思想，并精心铺张开文本结构，这一手法不禁让人回想起古典诗歌中的精彩范例，如《诗经》中的篇章。然而，马勇的诗歌似乎和古人又没有任何关系，从文本上来看，他们的距离相差很远，但是从文本的水平线深挖进去，你会发现他的内涵，是在古典文学的继承中寻求创新的。中国诗歌历经千年发展，从《诗经》到《楚辞》，从汉乐府到唐诗宋词，每一时期都有其独特的风格和特点。然而，马勇的诗集《闪过的意象》却展现了一种新的气质。他的诗歌不仅继承了古典诗歌的精髓，更在主题反映上展现了现代人的情感与思考。每一首诗，无论是直白还是含蓄，都围绕着一个具体的主题映象展开，这种“具体反映”的手法使得诗歌更具深度和广度。

        我想起尹国明教授在《性情说——关于中国文学的主体论》当中提到的例子，他说：《列子》以寓言的叙说方式体现出“从心而动”的思想性，同时又创作了一个“梦幻之境”的艺术结界，这种既体验个体性情又达到超验境界的文化作品，就是艺术与思想的结合统一。如果单从形式上而论，缺少艺术性的文化内容会显得结构薄弱，过于直叙，少了隐喻和象征带来的冲突及张力；反之，过于注重艺术性却缺少思想，会让文化作品丧失情绪、爱恨等精神内在，失去灵魂。正如罗丹在《艺术论》所讲：实际上，一切都是思想，都是象征。而马勇的诗歌旨态，就是这种“象征”。既延续了古人的传统，又有所突破。他的语言轻灵，大小意象转接融洽，情感与志趣的生成被表达得淋漓尽致。在《送河流一程》这首诗中，他以最通俗浅显的词句烘托出不同环境的情绪对比，通过第三人称的角度观察旷野，山间河流，展现了其高洁典雅、蕙质兰心、坚贞不渝的精神。而在《露珠》这首诗中，他则巧妙地运用借代植入的句式，将情感隐匿在文本之下，为读者勾勒出阅读后的第二次思维，营造出一种身临其境的感觉。

       马勇的诗歌还善于用典，他巧妙地将典故融入抒情之中，以寻绎出感情的寄托。如“你点缀山坡的清纯倩影，驱赶着几只野性十足的山羊”，这让我倍感意外。因为“山羊”作为意象在现代诗中，往往承载着多重含义，它可能象征着自然、野性、温顺、牺牲或是与宗教、神秘主义相关联的象征。不同的诗人会在其作品中根据上下文和个人表达需要赋予“山羊”不同的含义。以美国诗人华莱士·史蒂文斯（Wallace Stevens）为例，他在《星期天早晨》（Sunday Morning）一诗中运用了多种自然意象，包括山羊。在这首诗中，山羊可能象征着一种平静、自然的生活方式，与诗中描绘的现代社会形成对比。史蒂文斯通过这种对比，探讨了现代社会中人与自然的关系，以及人们在追求现代生活方式时所失去的东西。再如，智利诗人巴勃罗·聂鲁达（Pablo Neruda）在《二十首情诗和一支绝望的歌》（Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair）中也可能运用了“山羊”的意象。虽然这首诗集并没有直接提及山羊，但聂鲁达善于运用自然元素来表达情感，因此他可能会用山羊来象征爱情的温柔、纯洁或坚韧。

       回头再看马勇的《闪过的意象》，我发现他正以现代人的视角和感受，注入了中国古诗词更新鲜的蕴涵，接纳着西方文化的“象征”风格，让创作的主体更贴近生活，表达美好。从诗中我们不仅能获取到超出于寻常的思想规则，更能感受到马勇对诗歌艺术的热爱和追求。因此，对于马勇的诗集《闪过的意象》，我给予高度的评价，期待他未来能为我们带来更多精彩的作品。

作者简介

无尘，祖籍河北，天下云游，诗歌爱好者。

主人公马勇简介

    马勇，回族，云南昭通人。毕业于云南农业大学，昭通市农业科学院高级农艺师。系中国诗歌学会会员、云南省作家协会会员、中国世促会工委特约研究员、中华诗书画派成员、乌蒙诗社社长。出版诗集《闪过的意象》《朝阳之梦》《灵魂的眼睛》《疼痛的心灵与泪花》，且为当代作家签名版图书馆珍藏和评论。在《诗歌月刊》《青年文学家》《参花》《读书文摘》《散文百家》《作家报》《鸭绿江》《青海湖》等期刊发表诗歌作品，全球多元化中文出版协会授予“桂冠诗人”；荣获“李清照杯”全国文学奖大赛诗歌类特等奖；2023大国人民诗人；百位文学工匠；华语辉煌成就十大顶级诗人。第17届作家报杯全国优秀文艺作品大赛金奖、全国诗歌教研成果一等奖、第四届中国诗人年度诗歌奖金奖等奖。中国诗歌网认证诗人（蓝V诗人）；《作家报》文学副刊专栏作家诗人；邮政明信片百位中国诗人；《青年文学家》杂志评为优秀作家。名篇文学艺术网总顾问，认证会员。部分诗作被云图书馆、北京大学、清华大学、浙江大学、复旦大学、中国邮册收藏。

The Deep Tension of Simple Language

— On Ma Yong's Poetry Collection "Flashing Images"

Wu Chen

After reading Ma Yong's poetry collection "Flashing Images", I suddenly recalled the story of Zhuangzi painting crabs mentioned by Calvino in "Six Memos for the Next Millennium". Zhuangzi made an appointment with the king for ten years but completed the painting in one stroke on the last day. He implanted the inner charm into the external exquisite form of the crab, aiming to teach the king to reduce his greed and desire, and to postpone and accumulate the sense of achievement and pleasure. Such traditional Chinese connotations being quoted by modern Western culture inherently belong to the "partial combination" or "relative unity" of the external form and the inner charm. With the evolution of the connection between cultural illusions and the reality, the "inside" and the "outside" have gradually evolved into interwoven parts in the structuralism of binary opposition. However, regardless of the external manifestation, the inner mystery of the work must have undergone spiritual shaping and transformation in order to express a deeper inner charm in the delineation of the external form of the work. 

In the poetry collection "Flashing Images", the poems with those simple images seem rather plain at first glance. However, upon closer examination, one can discover the profound and rich world beneath the surface. Without delving into the pursuit of imagery in contemporary modern poetry, merely discussing the poems themselves, Ma Yong's poems are like a key. The images in his writings possess both the natural beauty of mountains, rivers and streams, and the charm of life in the marketplace and among the people. Using simple words, he captures those fleeting inspirations and connects the emotional relationship between individual personality and the commonality of the masses. Just like the key field theory proposed by Bourdieu: the existence of an individual is imposed in a specific position in a certain field. In light of the development of modern culture, the nature of the individual itself will highlight the sense of freedom and responsibility under the containment of the overall commonality. The tension zone generated by personality in culture is both individual and will become collective; it is both exclusive and will be self-reflective and redemptive. A cultural environment that uses common goals to control the individual's free spirit will undoubtedly imprison the overall creativity; while the common development and innovation that drives the overall recognition is mostly driven by a very small number of "personalities". Therefore, there are territorial zones such as time or space between the ultimately recognized "personalities" and the whole. 

As a poetry lover, seeing countless poetry works every day, to be honest, I feel somewhat tired when reading. However, Ma Yong's poems can catch my eye. I feel that each of his poems is like a small universe. It seems that I am placed in a brand-new world, experiencing the poet's emotions and thoughts. His reverence for life, love for nature, and insight into human nature all start from the aspects of psychology, emotion, and narration in poetry creation to deeply understand its artistic charm. Ma Yong skillfully connects the thematic ideas with continuous images and elaborately unfolds the text structure. This technique can't help but remind people of the wonderful examples in classical poetry, such as the chapters in "The Book of Songs". However, Ma Yong's poetry seems to have nothing to do with the ancients. Judging from the text, they are far apart. But digging deep from the horizontal line of the text, you will discover that his connotation lies in seeking innovation in the inheritance of classical literature. Chinese poetry has developed for thousands of years, from "The Book of Songs" to "The Songs of Chu", from Han Music Bureau to Tang poetry and Song ci, each period has its unique style and characteristics. However, Ma Yong's poetry collection "The Flashing Images" presents a new temperament. His poems not only inherit the essence of classical poetry but also demonstrate the emotions and thoughts of modern people in theme reflection. Each poem, whether straightforward or implicit, unfolds around a specific thematic image. This "specific reflection" technique makes the poetry more profound and extensive. 

I remember the example mentioned by Professor Yin Guoming in "On Temperament - On the Subject Theory of Chinese Literature". He said: "Liezi" embodies the ideological nature of "acting from the heart" in the narrative way of fables, and at the same time creates an artistic barrier of a "dreamland". Such a cultural work that both experiences individual temperament and reaches a transcendent realm is the combination and unity of art and thought. If judged only in terms of form, cultural content lacking artistry will appear structurally weak, too straightforward, lacking the conflict and tension brought by metaphor and symbol; conversely, paying too much attention to artistry but lacking thought will make cultural works lose the spiritual essence such as emotions, love and hate, and lose their soul. Just as Rodin said in "On Art": In fact, everything is thought and symbol. And Ma Yong's poetic purport is precisely this kind of "symbol". It not only continues the tradition of the ancients but also makes breakthroughs. His language is light and agile, the transitions between large and small images are harmonious, and the generation of emotions and aspirations is expressed vividly. In the poem "Accompanying the River for a Stretch", he sets off the emotional contrast of different environments with the most popular and simple words, and observes the wilderness and mountain rivers from the perspective of the third person, showing his noble, elegant, gentle and firm spirit. In the poem "Dewdrops", he skillfully uses the sentence pattern of metonymy implantation to hide emotions under the text, outlining the second thought after reading for readers and creating an immersive feeling. 

Ma Yong's poems are also good at using allusions. He skillfully integrates allusions into lyricism to explore the sustenance of emotions. For example, "Your pure and charming figure embellishing the hillside drives a few wild goats", which surprises me greatly. Because as an image in modern poetry, "goat" often carries multiple meanings. It may symbolize nature, wildness, docility, sacrifice or be associated with religion and mysticism. Different poets will endow "goat" with different meanings in their works according to the context and personal expression needs. Take the American poet Wallace Stevens for instance. He used a variety of natural images, including goats, in the poem "Sunday Morning". In this poem, the goat may symbolize a peaceful and natural lifestyle, contrasting with the modern society depicted in the poem. Through this contrast, Stevens explores the relationship between man and nature in modern society and what people have lost in the pursuit of modern lifestyles. Again, the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda may also have used the image of "goat" in "Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair". Although this collection of poems does not directly mention goats, Neruda is good at using natural elements to express emotions, so he may use goats to symbolize the tenderness, purity or tenacity of love. 

Looking back at Ma Yong's "Flashing Images", I find that he is injecting fresher connotations of ancient Chinese poetry with the perspective and feelings of modern people, accepting the "symbolic" style of Western culture, making the creative subject closer to life and expressing beauty. From the poems, we can not only obtain extraordinary ideological rules, but also feel Ma Yong's love and pursuit of the art of poetry. Therefore, for Ma Yong's poetry collection "Flashing Images", I give a high evaluation and look forward to him bringing us more wonderful works in the future.

Author Profile

Wu Chen, whose ancestral home is Hebei Province, travels all over the world and is a poetry lover. 

Profile of the Protagonist Ma Yong

Ma Yong, of the Hui ethnicity, is from Zhaotong, Yunnan Province. He graduated from Yunnan Agricultural University and is a senior agronomist at the Zhaotong Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He is a member of the Chinese Poetry Society, a member of the Yunnan Writers' Association, a special researcher of the Working Committee of the China Council for the Promotion of World Trade, a member of the Chinese School of Poetry, Calligraphy and Painting, and the president of the Wumeng Poetry Society. He has published poetry collections such as "Flashing Images", "The Dream of the Rising Sun", "The Eyes of the Soul", "The Painful Heart and Tears", which are collected and commented on by the contemporary writers' signed editions library. His poetry works have been published in periodicals such as "Poetry Monthly", "Young Literati", "Shen Hua", "Reading Digest", "Hundred Schools of Prose", "Writer's Newspaper", "Yalu River", "Qinghai Lake", etc. The Global Diversified Chinese Publishing Association awarded him the title of "Poet Laureate"; he won the Special Grand Prize in the poetry category of the "Li Qingzhao Cup" National Literature Award Competition; he was named "Great Country People's Poet" in 2023; one of the Hundred Literary Craftsmen; one of the Ten Top Poets of Chinese Brilliant Achievements. He has won the Gold Prize of the 17th Writer's Newspaper Cup National Excellent Literary and Artistic Works Competition, the First Prize of the National Poetry Teaching and Research Achievements, the Gold Prize of the Fourth Chinese Poets' Annual Poetry Prize, etc. He is a certified poet (Blue V poet) on the Chinese Poetry website; a columnist poet of the literary supplement of "Writer's Newspaper"; one of the Hundred Chinese Poets on postal postcards; and was rated as an excellent writer by the magazine "Young Literati". He is the chief advisor and certified member of the Famous Literary and Artistic Works Network. Some of his poems have been collected by cloud libraries, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, Fudan University, and Chinese postal albums.