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III

THE ARTISTIC

Shakespeare Capriccio (2)

II

‘Tis not enough that through the cloud thou break
A bliss in proof, and proved, a very face
Is it beauty's face or one true name
That flies in heaven’s sweetest air
Lifting a thousand groans afoot, running hares
Oh, do not, if thou issueless shall have to die
Whereupon I live with fraudulent infection
A dove has escaped this sorrow, not my heart
To a music, blurred by chill gray
Into a closet never pieced with crystal
Eyes

Shakespeare Capriccio

I

"Fair, kind, and true," says Shakespeare
"Fast, kindle, and toon," varying to other sphere
Against death, and all-oblivious quantity
My Muse has grown with this growing quality
"I hate, I hate", her alteration singed
Upon snow with ashing glow not esteemed
A ball from snow away she threw,
Over the rainbow it went willful-slow
The miles are measured falling and fell
Thy end is truth and beauty dooms

THE BLOCKED
X Drew Liu

Another dull rainy day, monsoonal and drenching. Zhou is staring at the grey sky through a clouded window. No prospect of clearing. Outside all is muddy and mossy; fungus sprouts up on dead trees, in quiet lanes and under the eaves of the house. Inside is no better: dark patches of lichen emerge on walls as if gloom has filtered in. Season of rot. For the past three days Zhou has not been able to pen a single word; any ideas coming to him seem rotten to the core. In short, he is blocked; writer-blocked.

THE BROKEN
By X Drew Liu

The clock struck midnight when Song sat up from a huge bed that occupied almost half the room. He had not been asleep, though it was his habit to go to sleep at nine o’clock every evening, for by then he was mostly drunk. He shook his long shaggy hair to settle it over the greasy patchwork quilt wrapped around his skinny shoulders. Four, five, six, still keeping count, he turned to look at the clock on the wall. It was not there. He looked around the room. Nothing was where it had been.

两个星期以来，每天尝试写作英文，日产量从500字到1000字左右，这样下去好像没有什么问题，因为自己很喜欢，如此一来，生活又多了一种享受方式，增添一点创意，不亦乐乎。不过，还是觉得应该在第二稿之后再发表在这里，否则是浪费别人的时间，于自己也没有益处。或许作家们都是胸怀大志的，起码给人印象如此，但我总觉得没有那么严肃吧。

Give Me Liberty?

“Give me liberty? Or give me death?” Professor Qian burst into laughing and repeated the word “death” in a high-pitched roar. People at nearby tables eyed us and then got back to their own business. The Bar was about half lit as if to make a point that all sound and fury must be kept in check here. At this point we were half drunk.

“O Brother, you got to help me!” That was the first thing Zhao said to me when I opened the door.

“Hello, Old Zhao,” I was truly surprised. “Do come in.” But it seemed, before I could utter those words, he had miraculously walked past me and was well settled at my desk where he waited for my greetings and invitation to reach him.

Bottom

Jack was a climber. He had always wanted to be one, perhaps, since he was about two years old when, as his mother had fondly recalled, he would climb the stairs of the house whenever he got a chance. In his adult life Jack was a well respected architect, but climbing was his true passion. He climbed all the major mountains in the United States, then in South America and then in Europe and Asian. He made two attempts on Mount Everest, though failed both times due to harsh weather conditions.

今年开始尝试学习文学写作，文字的笔端要带情感，有技巧地在词与词之间制造某种心理气氛，颇感踌躇，也感到困难。首先是一个为什么写作的问题。世界上那么多的好书，读都读不过来，为什么还要闭门造车呢？买部车子到处可开，或者买张车票可去，何必闭门造车呢？做一个美食家不是很好吗？何必非要当一个大厨不可呢！所以一定要问：为什么写作？

时局感怀（四首）

一、政治

你冻僵的手指
书写无韵小诗
如梦令
隔着斜风细雨
吐出血色黄昏
声声慢啊
穿透古老典故
何以
驻足键盘

A Crime Writer

“I’m not a good writer, but a good copier.” Jia spoke with a finger pointing upward, a sign of his excitement, of which I knew so well since we were school kids together. "But I don’t plagiarize others, I copy Life itself. Yes, Life is more talented than all of us added together." He lit up a cigarette and inhaled, continuing, “Life doesn’t claim copyrights. Isn’t that wonderful?” He blew out smoke in a long breath, resting his restless fingers on the coffee cup.

【人物情节，均为虚构，若有雷同，纯属偶然】世界艾滋病日到来之际，中办主任令计划茶饭不思。直至今天，只要想起2004年那个艾滋病日，令计划心 里就不由得打哆嗦。那一次，胡锦涛总书记去了北京佑安医院，看望艾滋病患者，群情激动，举世赞叹，一切安排均属万无一失，事实上也取得了很好的宣传效果。 但是，天有不测风云，特别是马后炮的风雨，更不可测。

【人物情节，均为虚构，若有雷同，纯属偶然】十一月下旬，胡锦涛开完了十七大，身心俱累，想到京城外面走一走，散散心。在令计划的建议下，胡锦涛一 行轻车简从，来到了内蒙古的鄂尔多斯，要深入草原牧区。此刻，自治区党委书记储波和政府主席杨晶小心翼翼，陪伴在侧。总书记看他们战战兢兢的样子觉得好 笑，不紧不慢地说：“我这次来内蒙古，是要向你们提抗议的。我在北京黄沙满天，一口新鲜空气都没有。

【人物情节，均为虚构，若有雷同，纯属偶然】北京夏夜，万籁俱寂。轿车开进了中南海的边门，孟学农仍然觉得自己是在梦中。这种感觉就像四年前的一次 经历。那时，他刚刚上任北京市长不久，也是一次深夜召见，还记得令计划苍白严肃的神情，向他宣布了中央的决定，撤销他北京市长的职务。“非典啊非典，萨斯 啊萨斯”，孟学农感觉心中刺痛。

Taking a Walk

It was a sunny day and I took a walk in the morning. There were people, mostly elderly, walking along the promenade that threaded its way in a park like a construction site. Yet there was no clue of people minding the noise and dust. “Isn’t this great?” I thought to myself. “They would have been adaptive to a war zone.”

Friendship Hotel

新年决定。从今天开始，试一试这个模式：上午写作，下午谋生。晚上自由散漫，听音乐，看闲书，随便了。只是今天早晨起来后，不知道写什么，愣了半晌。最后决定着手《Beijing Notes》，设计上半是讽刺小说，半是游记杂感，吸取中国古人笔记随笔之营养，拟用英文写作。每天这样写下去，一来可以把自己的英文恢复一下，再磨练一下，二来如果觉得还可以，即可结集出版，找找出版社什么的，解决一个万事开头难的问题。

Out from Beijing

Prologue

Today is Juanary 1st, 2008. That's right, another New Year. And my New Year Resolution is, again and not again, to be a writer writing. To be sure, that was partly my last New Year Resolution, but I forgot to put "writing" after "writer", a huge mistake it was, because I basically spend my previous year being a writer THINKING to write or PREPARING to write. Well, such historic error eliminated, I’m ready to proceed.

Then what?

昨天晚上加了一点班，为改版升级，拖得太晚，一夜乱梦。上午又忙了一阵键盘，总算做完了。不是十分满意，但可以步入一个新天地，足够施展。随得《升级偶记》：
白日依山尽可接，黄莺频啼不识节。
春风万里无归处，何不春闺梦里歇？

（一）

从前有那么一个山寨，寨主智叟，腐败无能，山寨内忧外患不断，寨民们饥寒交迫，还要受外人的欺负，这日子实在过不下去了。在大家都绝望时，老愚公站出来说话了：“我们为什么活不下去了呢？都怪寨子前面的三座大山，每一个山上住着一个大恶灵，这些恶灵跟寨主串通一气，让我们做牛做马做奴隶。乡亲们呐，我们要挖掉这三座大山。”大家听得半信半疑，但心里都在想，这疯疯癫癫的老头说的要是真的，该有多好啊！当然，愚公一族一点不含糊，励精图治，每天挖山不止，虽然土没有挖掉多少，但挖死的人却不少。怜悯的上帝终于被感动了，于是就移走了大山。