Spider King by Akuwuwu, tr. Wang Ping

Spider King 

by Akuwuwu, tr. Wang Ping

 

Spinning silk marks the meaning for a spider’s existence. How much silk does a spider spin throughout its life? Its webs have so many patterns and shapes. They are the mirror image of the cosmos, also the inner design of life. I heard spider’s silk comes from its saliva, mapping its life journey, with bones, blood, meridians. To me, spiders are more like a spider language, writing “Spider Bibles” with their spiderwebs all over the world.

 

吐丝是蜘蛛生命的标志和意义。但要吐多少丝蜘蛛才算完成终生使命，获得完美的生命结局？那些形状各异，姿态万千的蛛网，既是宇宙规律的缩影，又是生命内在的图式。据说蛛丝是蜘蛛的唾液，是蜘蛛一生走过的道路，是蜘蛛的骨血和经脉。其实蛛丝更像蜘蛛的语言文字，遍布世界的蛛网就是一部部《蜘蛛经》。

 

Prof. Akuwuwu is one of the most prominent Yi ethnic poets from the Cold Mountain of Sichuan. I invited him twice as a visiting scholar, to a liberal arts college where I taught poetry for 21 years. I took him to the Indian Center in Minneapolis where he met the Indigenous leaders. The meeting sparked years of friendships, research, and poetry. Akuwuwu is a medicine man, poet, professor, writer, performer, leader. His chapbook "King of Spider" has been translated into many languages. Here's the first piece from the book. 

 

To know more about Yi Ethnic People, please check out https://uw.manifoldapp.org/proj.../the-nuosu-book-of-origins

 

—Wang Ping

 

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Wang Ping is a Chinese-American poet with over a dozen books to her name who lives in St. Paul, MN. See her webpage, WangPing.com.

 

See my reviews of her latest two poetry books at this post.