* — May 29, 2021
Two Poems by Zhu Yiye

妈妈
 
我的妈妈
看了太多的电视
她炒菜放很多盐
 
我们变得干瘪
而且很咸
 
我的身体可以
随时感受到水滴
卧室 或者艳阳下
我经常抬头看看
有没有下雨
 
在道具一般的房子里
她的身体越来越小
 
直到我可以
握住她 轻易地
挤出秘密
 
我感到脚下
碾碎了一只蜗牛
我变得巨大
衣服和妈妈
簌簌落下
 
 
MOM
 
My mom
Watches too much TV
She adds a lot of salt when she cooks
 
We become shriveled
And very salty
 
My body can
Feel the waterdrops any minute
In my bedroom or under a bright sun
I often look up
To check if it rains
 
In the apartment that looks like a prop
Her body keeps shrinking
 
Until I can
Hold her and easily
Squeeze out the secrets
 
I feel under my feet
A snail is crushed
I become huge
My clothes and mom
Keep shedding off me
 
 
***
  
 
雨季就要结束
 
你将下巴搭在
皱巴巴的膝盖
我在你的头上
画了一个方块
立体的方块
 
它会一直广播
一段录音
你要学会控制
你要放弃对称
 
我知道地球的秘密
那些失去重力和
暂停转动的时刻
在错乱的时间和
发疯的光线里
如何快步行走
如何保持无知
 
你想和未来的
某个时间
打声招呼
并且命令它
记起现在的
这个时刻
 
人们在乌云边缘
撒出巨大的渔网
瘦牛抽打着尾巴
灰色的木屋下
你给了小乞丐
一块钱和一粒子弹
 
一个夏天接着
一个夏天
雪花流亡异乡
 
雨季就要结束
椰子何时砸下
 
2013年10月20日 柬埔寨金边
 
 
Monsoon Will End Soon
 
You rest your chin
On your crumpled knees
I draw a cube
A three-dimensional cube
Above your head
 
It will keep broadcasting
A recording
You should learn to control
You should give up symmetry
 
I know the secrets of the earth
Those moments of losing gravity
And pausing to turn
In deranged time and
Manic shafts of light
How to walk fast
How to remain ignorant
 
You want to greet
A certain time
In the future
And command it
To remember this
Moment now
 
People spread a huge fishing net
On the edge of gray clouds
Lean buffalos whip their tails
Under a gray wooden cabin
You give a little beggar
One yuan and a bullet
 
One summer after
Another summer
Snowflakes on exile
 
When will monsoon come to an end
When will coconuts fall
 
2013-10-20
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

*

Zhu Yiye (b. 1984) is a writer, poet, and filmmaker living in Yantai, China. Her stories and poems in English translation have appeared from the Los Angeles Review of Books China Channel, LIT Magazine, the Spittoon Literary Magazine, and Washington Square Review. Zhu has published two story collections in China: Killed by an Elephant Hoof (2018) and the award-winning A Girl Who Eats Sparrows (2019). A former indie filmmaker, Zhu has advanced China’s lesbian cinema with four critically acclaimed films including Lalala/Lost In You (2006).

 

 

 

 

 

Liuyu Ivy Chen is a literary artist who writes poems, essays, narrative nonfiction, and translates words across borders. She is passionate about issues concerning women, migration, and the concept of home. Her writing has recently appeared from the PloughsharesAsymptote, Hanging Loose Magazine, and The Atlanta-Journal Constitution. You can read her work on www.liuyuivychen.com.