遙遠的地方有個秘密：張冠詩集（國際英文版）

A Secret in a Distant Place is Zhang Guan’s first collection of poems, the poetry collection includes modern poems written by Zhang Guan from 2005 to 2010, the traditional Chinese edition of the book was published in 2015.

@Author’s Note

I remember it was a night when my roommates in my dormitory were asleep. Under the dim bedside lamp light, I picked up my pen and wrote down few lines of words in my notebook. Afterwards, the same scene happened frequently. Gradually, I found that the number of lines in my notebook increased. I do not remember exactly when and where I wrote my first poem, but I do remember it happened when I was in elementary school. I do not remember the exact content of the poem. I only remember that I was supposed to do my homework, but instead, I wrote a poem.

My love for poetry, specifically modern poetry, grew stronger after I went to university. As a young man in twenties full of passion and romance, confusion and rebellion, I seemed to find my answers in these poems. The answers may not be the only ones, because with the passage of time and increase in experiences, I may have different understandings. But the only thing that will not change is to not surrender to the mundane world and bow down to mediocrity, the courage to question and challenge, and the sincere, young heart that continues to beat.

Every time I walk into a bookstore, I would spend some time in front of the poetry section. Although there is only a small poetry section with few people wandering in front of it, when I read the lines of passionate poetry words, I deeply believe that loneliness is not that terrible.

I began to write poems again when I was in university. It has been a long time since I wrote the poem in elementary school. I know that this is not an era where people like to read poems, especially amongst the younger generations, poems seem to get further and further from us. Because in this era, poems could not bring us pretty girls of our dreams, nor could it provide us with high salaried jobs after graduation. Even knowing the risks of possibly having no readers, I continued to pick up my pen to write, in my dormitory, classrooms, libraries, and other places where I could write down words that at least touched my own heart. But the strange thing was, no matter what my surroundings were, I always believed that in this world, there will be people who are just like me, who may seem a bit foolish, but are persistent in seeking and exploring the sincerest part of people’s emotions and love for life.

This poetry collection includes the poems I wrote from 2005 to 2010. The content and style of the poems seemed to represent my state at different stages. I sometimes would guess and recall my exact motives for writing each poem. But either way, I know that those thoughts are connected to the purest emotions of a young man. About emotions, that do not need words to explain directly. Those who understand only need to share simple smiles, because only we know the secret that is hidden in the distant place.

Zhang Guan
June, 2015, in Los Angeles

@Afterword

Writing poems is a habit, to think and express the most sincere beauty and most real existence in thoughts far from vanity. No matter how far away the distant place is, in the morning after waking up, on the road without destination, those young people who are gradually maturing, can not forget the nights related to youth.

Zhang Guan

ZHANG GUAN, born in 1984, writer, poet, director, graduated from Communication University of China and got master degree in 2012, graduated from UCLA Extension in 2015, he is the author of the novels: Who Has Time Failed, Love Letter, Another Kind of Waste, Lemon, Bicycle, Nowhere to Go; Short Stories and Novellas Collection: Daydream in Utopia; Poetry Collections: A Secret in a Distant Place, Train Time and Imagination.

A Secret in a Distant Place

Contents
A Secret in a Distant Place
Author’s Note
Distance
The Lie of Spring
Maple Leaf
Childhood
Titleless Poem I
The Sound of Rye
For S
For Wheat
Passage Ticket
Corner I
Peers
Partner
If
Performance
Happiness of an Age
Bloom
Chain
Dada
Wake Up
Expectation
Corner II
Pen and Brother
Happy Thorny Way
Paper Plane
Passenger
Seed
Titleless Poem II
Traveler
Distance and the Sea
Red Skirt
Crystal in Fantasy
Beautiful Mistake
Signal
Titleless Poem III
Night
Station
For J
Fairy Tale
Titleless Poem IV
They
Model Love Poem
Memories About Street Lamps
One-Way Glass
Door
Meet You
Tomorrow
Natural Phenomenon
Girlfriend
Crossing
See the Sea
To See You

Afterword