Two poems by Ya Shi translated by Nick Admussen.
《吐露》
by Ya Shi在梦中 我把那面孔模糊的人
赞美三遍，痛打三遍
醒来 身边就聚集了许多俊美的人；
我是粗鲁的，温柔的
当你冲着天边的流云哈哈傻笑着
扭断奔跑的膝盖 像扭断
麻雀的脖颈……停歇处
我们追忆曾经盛开的事物
鲜花 轻轻掩埋裂开的灵魂
Disclosure
by Ya ShiIn a dream the man with the indistinct face
I praised him three times, beat on him three times
On waking near me had assembled many beautiful people;
I am coarse, I am tender
when you rush at the horizon’s flowing clouds, giggling like an idiot
twisting your sprinting knee till it snaps like twisting
a sparrow’s neck till it snaps…where we stop
we remember some things that once bloomed
fresh flowers buried shallow in the split-open soul
translated from Chinese by Nick Admussen《满足》
by Ya Shi何曾满足？何曾放弃敌意？
何曾因爱而无缘无故颤栗？
长星照耀州府 野草堆积身躯
我在一个红色政权下找到未命名的我
他的贫乏 正如他的细腻
他在晚上睡不着觉 睡着了
又把猫头鹰的眼睛睁得大大的——
月影向西 盗贼酣睡在他的梦里！
Content
by Ya ShiHave I ever been content? Have I ever renounced hostility?
Have I ever trembled in love without reason or cause?
An old star lights the provincial government heaped bodies in the weeds
under a red regime I find a self as yet unnamed
he is precisely as incomplete as he is exquisite
At night he can’t get to sleep when he sleeps
he opens the eyes of the owl so wide —
the moon’s shadow goes west the thief has fallen asleep in his dream!
translated from Chinese by Nick Admussen