under a red regime I find a self as yet unnamed

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 Shi

In 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
more>>

《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 Shi

Have 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
more>>