poetry in action features work by poets from around the world, translated into English.
It has three rallying cries:
Poets of the world, unite and take over!
Resist the oppressive constraints of good, publishable poetry established by mainstream literary venues!
Only poetry in translation, all the time!
Coming at you on the 20th of each month.
(Now available from Circumference Books)
*
這首詩需要大聲地、用力地唱出：
藍藍的天上白雲飄，
白雲下面你在跑——
因為前邊有泡屎～～
去晚了吃不著……
*
This verse needs to be loudly, vigorously sung:
Above the blue sky are white clouds,
And below the white clouds you run—
Because a pile of shit’s up ahead
And if you get there late you get none . . .
——「八月——2008年8月9日北京」
狗屎在马厩里发酵
热气俯仰鼻息
暴风雨旅途劳顿
趴在门外喘息
党仍在勃起
人民依然亢奋
无聊和疲倦
比睡眠来得更硬
但他们确已睡着
在彼此玲珑的微巢
马驰过旷野
August 9, 2008, Beijing
Dog crap ferments in the stables
Hot fumes waft up to a nose
A storm fatigued from its journey
Lies panting at a door that is closed
The Party still has an erection
The people still stand at attention
Disinterest and exhaustion
Arrives more insistent than sleep
But they are already sleeping
Each in the fine nest of another
Horses gallop across a vast range
*
最終，植物吃光了所有的肉
植物尖叫著奔向沉默
沉默轉身就走
走踉踉蹌蹌
踉蹌長途跋涉
跋涉口乾舌燥
燥清心寡慾
慾磕磕絆絆
磕絆一路瘋長
最終，植物吃光了所有的肉
*
Finally the plants eat all the meat
The plants rush shrieking toward silence
Silence turns to leave
Stumbumbling
Staggering on a long and difficult trek
Trudging with dry mouth and tongue
Parched and austere
Desiring to tripitytrip
To tumble the whole weird way
Finally the plants eat all the meat
*
一旦上路
路就再也看不到盡頭
死也不是終點
而只不過是一枚倉促、
倔強的人形路標
路在大地上顛簸伸展
猶如牧童手裏散漫的鞭子
抽打著草木、虛空
以及虛空中飄蕩著的灵魂
勢必是踉蹌的
即便不受阻于腳下呲牙般的巉石
也難免失足於靈魂的坑窪
路拉扯著腳
腳拍打著路
漸行漸遠
漸漸不見
*
Once on the road
The end of the road cannot be seen
Nor is death an end
It’s just a sudden road sign
In human shape
The road waves and winds across the earth
Like an unruly whip in a young shepherd’s hand
Lashing the grass and the void
And the soul that lingers in the void
Stumbling is inevitable
Even if the chasm doesn’t get ahold of you
It’s hard to avoid losing your footing in the pit of the soul
The road drags the foot
The foot smacks the road
They drift apart
And gradually fade
*
因為跌倒在廢話裡
神仙也就下了凡
坐在立交橋下的馬路牙子上
擼肉串兒喝啤酒
油煙飄去處
新栽的草木蔫頭搭腦
一半已死一半殘喘
吳帶當風濕衣衫
三十年的塵埃吃下
整個城鄉結合部
顛簸在廢話的路上
幸運的是
所有的噩耗都還在路上
所有的人形容器都已經滿溢
*
Because I descend into nonsense
The gods fall to the impermanent earth
And sit by the street under the overpass
Eating kebabs and drinking beer
Where the exhaust drifts
The freshly-planted plants wither and droop
Half-dead and half-gasping
Wu paints robes like wind, wet clothes
Having eaten dust for thirty years
The city and countryside coalesce
And romp together down absurdity’s road
Fortunately
The real bad news is yet to come
All the personified vessels will spill over
Lao Yang was born in northeastern China. He founded one of the country’s first independent advocacy spaces dedicated to experimental music and sound art, and he has performed his own work at venues and festivals around the world. A recipient of a Jean-Jacques-Rousseau fellowship, he has been an artist-in-residence at the Akademie Schloss Solitude and elsewhere.
Lynn Xu was born in Shanghai. She’s the author of two full-length collections, And Those Ashen Heaps That Cantilevered Vase of Moonlight (Wave Books, 2022) and Debts & Lessons (Omnidawn, 2013). She co-edits Canarium Books and teaches at Columbia University.
Joshua Edwards was born on Galveston Island. He’s the author of several books, including The Double Lamp of Solitude (Rising Tide Projects, 2022) and Architecture for Travelers (Editions Solitude, 2014), and he translated María Baranda’s Ficticia (Shearsman Books, 2010). He co-edits Canarium Books.
poetry in action is an Action Books blog feature curated and edited by Katherine M. Hedeen (@kmhedeen) with web editing by Paul Cunningham.