The Plateau In Pajamas

The Nuclear Explosion opens a bold poetic series that brings together selected voices from the three major poetry movements shaping the world today: the World Poetry Movement, the Beijing Postmodernism Poetry Movement, and the Great Poetry Movement. Conceived as a space of convergence rather than confrontation, this series presents poetry as a dynamic force capable of capturing the shocks, hopes, and transformations of contemporary humanity. By placing these movements side by side, the publication affirms that despite differences in language, aesthetics, and cultural roots, world poetry shares a common urgency: to respond to the moral, existential, and imaginative challenges of our time through the power of the word. Prepare for THE SILK ROAD TODAY BY CAO SHUI

Qiao Damo, born on June 5, 1966, is from Guizhou, China. He has studied at Fudan University, Capital Normal University, and Peking University, obtaining a Master’s degree in Education. He has successively worked at the Beijing Institute of Educational Sciences, the Central Institute of Educational Sciences, and the editorial department of Poetry Magazine. He has published poetry collections such as “Cliff Carvings”. Co-edited with Wen Haoran “World Literary Forum” (2010), co-edited with Yi Sha “Postmodern Light – Selected Poems of Representative Figures in China’s New Poetry Movement in the Past 40 Years” (2016), and co-edited with Kong Qingdong “Drunk Gods – Selected Works of Representative Poets in Beijing Poetry School” (2023). The founder of the last poetry school in 20th century China, “The Third Way Writing” (1999), and the founder of China’s first postmodern poetry school, “Beijing Poetry School” (2016). He has taught at the Central Academy of Fine Arts and China Agricultural University, respectively, teaching the history of foreign literature and Chinese modern poetry. The playwright of the opera “Wang Yangming”. Since 2015, he has served as the Vice President of the Patriotic Engineering Research Institute.

The Plateau In Pajamas

By Qiao Damo

At this moment, the pajamas are awake, while the plateau is asleep.

Only the lambs scattered all over the mountains and fields

Draw milk from the breasts of the clouds.

At this moment, the cave is damp. No language, just a tingling tremor.

The spring water in the valley washed her away.

She squatted on the smooth pebbles,

Blooming trumpet flowers and autumn chrysanthemums.

At this moment, the pajamas are awake. A singing of harvesting souls.

This is the drizzling rain driving the carriage, swimming in the treetops,

Go on vacation to heaven.

The cave is once again damp. Expose her Nestle.

Through the swaying branches and leaves of the tree lined path, guarded by petals

Flower plate, she shyly bloomed.

At this moment, my pajamas are awake, collecting butterflies and diamonds.

This is a palace nestled by mountains and waters

Lighting a kerosene lamp can make dragons fly and phoenixes dance, 

and two lamps can ascend to heaven.

At this moment, the cave is damp. At this moment, she is like a fish in water

Her pajamas were suddenly taken away by the wind. Enchanted mountains rush towards us.

Lambs spread all over the mountains, gnawing on the breasts of the green grass.

At this moment, the nightgown came back again, and she caressed her land.

In her secluded valley, large patches of red poppies shone brightly everywhere. 

There is no place to hide anymore. A waterfall, rolling up the curtain.

The reflections of those baby fish began to go crazy.

（Translated by Cao Shui）