Self-Portrait
The mirror is a bowl that is placed on the table.
My face is a potato in a bowl.
Hey, it grew out of the ground.
These warm bones.
This is a deeply hidden poem. At first glance, the February ** Dynamic Incentive Plan may make people feel inexplicable, even inexplicable, but in fact it is exquisitely conceived and meaningful, and it shows the poet Haizi's deep thinking about life and existence with unique imagery and spiritual thinking.
"The people take food as the sky", is the motto and belief of this ancient nation. But how should life be lived? If you agree with this belief in life, or if you have never thought about such questions, it may be difficult to understand what Haizi is saying, but if you have reflected or resisted, then it may be much easier to understand the poem. Here's a look at the song.
A mirror is a bowl on a table", why is a "mirror" a "bowl"? Because the bowl is where the eyes of our nation lie, "Have you eaten" is still the constant greeting of this nation for thousands of years. Especially in that era of poverty, food was everything, becoming the axis of life's rotation, and in many families, they were so poor that they didn't even have a mirror. Therefore, the bowl is a symbol and epitome of life, it expresses a social reality, but also expresses a state of life.
My face is a potato in a bowl", the camera moves from far to near, focusing from the bowl to the food in the bowl. "Potato" is a simple metaphor that represents food. This sentence is to say that when I look at the potatoes in the bowl, I am actually looking at my life, my existence. Because, potatoes make up my body and my life. Actually, potatoes are my life, my life. Potatoes (food) lie in the bowl as if they were lying in the bowl themselves.
Hey, out of the ground grew - these warm bones", "hey"! The poet could not help but sigh and be amazed, because he suddenly realized that he was nothing more than potatoes and rice, or directly seedlings and rice, and that he was not fundamentally different from crops and food, but only had more "bones". This may seem like an absurd expression, but it reflects the poet's deep thinking about life and existence.
Judging from the content of the whole poem, there is not much description of the self, but the title of the poem is called "Self-Portrait". Because when you understand the poetry, you will understand the originality of the poem, the title of which both directly expresses the theme and alludes to the content of the poem, that is, the poet sees his own life and life by looking at the bowl on the table - in this extraordinary mirror.
Using the bowl as a mirror, this is a transcendent perspective, and it also has the poet's genius-like vision and perception. This poem is a self-portrait of the poet and a self-portrait of our nation, through a simple sketch of the phenomena of daily life, the essence of life and the impermanence of life. If we think about it further, poetry may also contain a faint criticism and reflection on secular life and life.