Poetry of the Planet, by the Planet, and for the Planet: A Global Manifesto for Being Here

地球之詩：爲存於此地所做的全球宣言

10.6184/TKR.201106_41(2).0003

Jonathan Butler

生態 ； 詩 ； 省思 ； 知識論 ； 本體論 ； ecology ； poetry ； contemplation ； epistemology ； ontology

Tamkang Review

41卷2期（2011 / 06 / 01）

41 - 61

英文

此文旨在探討現今生態運動所面臨的困境－即，其零碎性使其在挑戰種種針對地球的破壞行為時，無絕對影響力。即使報章雜誌、小說、與電影皆逐漸因環境意識抬頭而出產具有環保意識的作品，卻都無法帶來任何能扭轉人類走向生態毀滅命運的全面性改革。那麼，究竟是少了什麼呢？對此，我將在此文中提出，「詩」能作為一種提高全球環境意識的重要方法。經由詩，我們能了解語言本身即藏有現行於地球上對環境的真實暴力。藉由引用斯洛維尼亞籍理論家紀傑克(Slovoj Žižek)的作品，我將討論我們對語言存疑的必要性，特別是針對那倡導左手施右手受做法的「自由共產主義」論述。我的論點是，若要使真正的改變得以落實，我們必須從某些詩人的語言去尋求解決之道。那些詩人明白人的思想、人的存在和自然界是密不可分的三者，彼此間相互連結。一旦這個道理能被領略，對環境的暴力將無法再施行；因為三者互存的關係，對環境施暴即等於對自身施暴。在此文中，我將分析詩人伯恩賽(John Burnside)、葛拉凡德(David Gravender)與查布思(BoydChubbs)的詩，這些詩人具有上述對世界的理解，並且皆致力於探索以上三者間的相互關係。除此之外，上述三位詩人並對傳統形而上二元論提出詰問與質疑。傳統形而上二元論相信個人與世界是分離的，這樣的思想使環境暴力得以存在，甚至被加強。在此也引述詩人暨理論家利爾本(Tim Lilburn)的論述，以闡述詩人們如何提出對此二元論的詰問與質疑。

This essay takes as its launching point the current dilemma faced by the ecological movement: its fragmentary and thus ineffective challenge to the behavioral patterns behind the continued destruction of the planet. Journalism, fiction, non-fiction narrative, and film have all raised awareness of ecological imperatives, but failed to effect the total change required to redirect the current course of humanity from its path towards ecological oblivion. What more is required? This essay posits poetry as a strategic means to heighten global awareness to the ways in which language itself masks the real violence at work on the planet. Using the work of Slovenian critic Slavoj Žižek as a springboard, the claim is made that we must be suspicious of language itself, especially the discourse of ”liberal communism” which takes away with one hand what it gives with the other.My argument is that for real change to occur we must look to the language of the poets who understand that human thought, human embodiment, and the natural world are not separate from each other but intertwined and interconnected in ways that, once acknowledged, will make it necessarily impossible to continue unleashing violence against the planet, since such violence would essentially amount to violence against oneself. The poetry of John Burnside, David Gravender and Boyd Chubbs is analyzed in this light and the commensurate philosophy of such an interconnected world is tentatively explored. The philosophy of poet/critic Tim Lilburn is used as a backdrop to appreciating the ways in which the aforementioned poets question and challenge traditional metaphysical dualism-the separation of self from world which makes possible and empowers violence against nature in the first place.

1. Adamson, Joni(2009).Coming Home to Eat: Re-Imagining Place in the Age of Global Climate Change.Tamkang Review,39(2),2-25.
   連結：
2. Adamson, Joni(2009).Coming Home to Eat: Re-Imagining Place in the Age of Global Climate Change.Tamkang Review,39(2),2-25.
   連結：
3. Adamson, Joni(2009).Coming Home to Eat: Re-Imagining Place in the Age of Global Climate Change.Tamkang Review,39(2),2-25.
   連結：
4. Teeuwen, Rudolphus(2009).Ecocriticism, Humanism, Eschatological Jouissance: J.G. Ballard and the Ends of the World.Tamkang Review,39(2),38-56.
   連結：
5. Alter, Alexandra. "What Don DeLillo's Books Tell Him." The Wall Street Journal. 30 Jan 2010. Web. 1 Jun 2010
6. An Inconvenient Truth: A Global Warning. Dir. David Guggenheim. Perfs. Al Gore, Billy West. Paramount, 2006. Film
7. Beresford-Kroeger, Diana(2010).The Global Forest.New York:Viking.
8. Bullock, Alan(ed.),Stallybras, Oliver(ed.)(1977).The Harper Dictionary of Modern Thought.New York:Harper and Row.
9. Burnside, John(2009).The Hunt in the Forest.London:Jonathan Cape.
10. Burnside, John(1992).Feast Days.London:Secker and Warburg.
11. Butler, Jonathan(2010).Pleasure in the Pains of Remembrance: The Poetry of David Gravender.Portland Review,57(3),143-47.
12. Callenbach, Ernest(1974).Ecotopia.Berkeley:HeydayBooks.
13. Capra, Fritz(1975).The Tao of Physics.Suffolk, England:Chaucer P.
14. Chubbs, Boyd Warren(1991).Through Solomon's Lane.Truro, Nova Scotia:Mokushan.
15. DeLillo, Don(2010).Point Omega.New York:Scribner.
16. Dosa, Attila(2003).Poets and Other Animals: An Interview with John Burnside.Scottish Studies Review,4(1),9-23.
17. Gravender, David(2003).Rain Shadows.Seattle:Skyfisher P.
18. Habermas, Jürgen(1985).The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity.Cambridge, MA:Harvard UP.
19. Huyysen, Andreas(1986).After the Great Divide: Modernism, Mass Culture, Postmodernism.Bloomington, Indiana:Indiana UP.
20. James, Stephen(ed.)(1999).The Tabla Book of New Verse.Bristol:Department of English, U of Bristol.
21. Ladaceour, Lauren(2009).The Good Earth.Yoga,May,92-128.
22. Lilburn, Tim(1999).Living in the World As If It Were Home.Dunvegan, Ontario:Cormorant.
23. Lilburn, Tim(2008).Going Home.Toronto:House of Anansi P.
24. Lucas, John(2007).Souls, Ghosts, Angels, and 'Things Not Human': John Burnside, Alice Oswald and Kathleen Jamie.PN Review,34(1),27-32.
25. McCarthy, Cormac(1985).Blood Meridian.New York:Vintage.
26. Passaro, Vince(2008).After the Fall.The Oprah Magazine,April
27. Shepard, Paul(1982).Nature and Madness.Athens:U of Georgia P.
28. Tolle, Eckhart(2004).The Power of Now.Vancouver:Nemaste.
29. Weisman, Alan(2007).The World Without Us.New York:Thomas Dunne-St. Martins.
30. Žižek, Slavoj(2008).Violence: Six Sideways Reflections.New York:Picador.