1
“nature coincides with nature
and this is no coincidence.
nature flows in
and out of itself
with such frequency as to
render it
a totality”
the sculptor read his diary
while letting his work
exhibit itself:
a flat box on the floor
two feathers sealed in glasses
and a big bag
full of exotic cashes
which had no currency
in this country.
i thought the flat box looked like
a weigher—
women’s testament
but the sculptor said
the flat box represented
the pillow of a homeless
who slept on the street
under the roof
out there in the open
he also said he couldn’t sleep
at night
o, the pillow of the homeless
got cashed out
in the work
of the sleepless
I wonder what was the weight
of homelessness?
did it weigh the same
as sleeplessness?
I wondered if the two feathers
were from the same bird
if the bird felt
weightless
when its feathers were
flying away
2
when we go through our lives
seeing all those
everyday objects
being there
as though living lives
of their own
when we pause to look at them
breathe with them
living a moment
with them
when we learn to keep those moments
making objects
into subjects
of artworks
of philosophical pieces
objects get transformed
into our humbleness and arrogance
our mortal lives
show the pride
of their own
to the immortal
who are irrevocably deprived
of their deaths
3
i felt the turmoils
in my mind.
they were matter without form
they were infants
they were the primordial nakedness
language desired so much
to clothe
they humiliated me
they animated me
they betrayed me
they stripped me of my decency
they thrust into my
being, and
became me, transfigured me
they were the original sin
of the phenomenal
they were the forces
that were shaping me into a
sculpture
breathing in the noumenal
这诗主要是记录那天晚上和艾利森去雕塑系,参观人家候选人考试的所见所感。
object和subject之间的关系与转化很有意思。
object:物、对象;subject:主题,主体。
物成为对象的同时,似乎就在被主题化,被主体主题化。
诗的结尾,是从我最喜欢的当代哲学家Christine Korsgaard的书中得到的启发。
她论证为什么在共同活动中一起商量,并非一种讨价还价式的活动:
Thinking, after all, is just talking to yourself.
And since meanings are public, talking is just thinking in the company of others.
When we talk, like when we make an agreement,
We meet in the noumenal world.
——from SELF-CONSTITUTION: Agency,Identity,and Integrity p.197