Three Poems by Shen Haobo
Translated from the Chinese by Liang Yujing
崆峒道士
好不容易
爬上山顶
山顶有一道观
名叫玉皇殿
殿门口
坐着一位老道
专门为
敬香的游客敲磬
左手拿着
敲磬的棒槌
右手拿着一只苹果
敲一下磬
啃一口苹果
再敲一下
再啃一口
敲磬的时候
无精打采
啃苹果的时候
眼神发亮
A Taoist Priest on Mount Kongtong
With great effort,
I climbed to the mountaintop.
There was a Taoist temple,
named Palace of the Jade Emperor.
At its front door
sat an old Taoist priest
striking the chime stone
for the pilgrims.
With a mallet in his left hand
for hitting the stone,
he held an apple in his right hand.
He struck the stone,
then gave his apple a bite,
struck again,
then bit again.
When hitting the stone,
he looked listless.
When he bit the apple,
his eyes shone.
木匠
裸露着
上身的木匠
正在奋力用刨子
刨一段木头
一朵朵刨花
像浪花般涌起
轻柔，卷曲
散发着木头的清香
他在木头上游泳
伸出双臂
又收回
Carpenter
The carpenter,
stripped to his waist,
is striving to shape a block of wood
with his hand plane.
Shavings
surge up like sprays,
curly and soft,
giving off the scent of wood.
Swimming among wood,
he stretches out his arms
and draws them back.
墙根之雪
马路上的雪早已融尽
变成水，渗入地下
加大了地表的裂缝
而墙根的雪已经不是雪了
它是雪的癌症
它吃力地扶着墙根，它将
继续黯淡下去，直至消失
沿着墙根行走
每走几步，你就会发现这些
令人心颤的细微之物
它们看上去甚至还很新鲜
而它们到底形成于何时？
呵，在夜晚
竟会有那么多人匆匆奔向墙根
他们解开自己的裤子，或者
把他们的手指抠向深深的喉咙
他们在排泄和呕吐，加深了雪的肮脏
Snow Under the Wall
The snow on the road has melted,
turned into water, gone underground,
enlarged the fissures of the earth’s surface,
while the snow under the wall is no longer snow
but snow’s cancer.
Leaning against the wall, it will
become increasingly dimmer and disappear.
Walking along the wall,
every few steps, you’ll find this
heart-trembling matter.
It looks even rather fresh,
yet when did it take shape anyway?
Oh it’s unbelievable, in the night,
so many people rushed to the wall,
unfastened their pants, or
stuck their fingers deep down their throats.
They excreted and vomited, deepening the dirtiness of snow.
Shen Haobo, born in 1976, is considered one of the most controversial voices among the new generation of Chinese poets for being both wickedly erotic and politically satirical in his poetry. As the leading poet of the Lower Body Group, he is the author of four poetry collections.
Liang Yujing grew up in China and is currently a PhD candidate at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He is the Chinese translator of Best New Zealand Poems 2014 (Wai-te-ata Press) and the English translator of Zero Distance: New Poetry from China (Tinfish Press)
Image courtesy of Peter Heeling