Translated by Xiao Yue Shan
Breaching Hong Kong and China, there is a certain opacity in 廖伟棠 Liu Waitong’s renowned poetry that must be traversed with a desire for knowing. Fluent in the codifying and illusory capacities of Chinese language, Liu applies his vast compendium of understanding to address potent themes of urban displacement, bilateral definitions, and realities vs. anti-realities. “september”, translated by Xiao Yue Shan, is a deceptively simple poem that holds within its lines an intrigue of history and selfhood.
To read more from Liu Waitong, check out Spittoon Literary Magazine Issue 7, available in early April.
九月
我想念那些美丽的人让我留恋人间
我也想念同样的人让我的人间坎坷
她们怜惜我的诗之前途
遂不绝送来厄运和盐
小如一场被打扰的昼眠
大如一座城市如沙堡沦陷
都是她们的美意、利齿，
胜似翁布里亚的风
我多么不忍开启片刻倒流的沙漏
况那月亮还未浑圆如橘子待分。
我想念那些美丽的人让我留恋人间
september
i miss those beautiful people who made me long for the world
i miss also those same people who relegated my world to collapse
they pitied the future of my poems
sending ceaseless misfortunes and salts
small as a sleep that has been disturbed
wide as a city sunken like sandcastles
all their gorgeous intentions, their scathing teeth
stronger than the winds of umbria
i can’t resist turning the hourglass in which the moments flow retrograde when the moon is not yet as round as an orange waiting for its division
i miss those beautiful people who made me long for the world
廖伟棠，香港诗人、作家、摄影家，曾获香港青年文学奖、香港中文文学奖、台湾中国时报文学奖、联合报文学奖及香港文学双年奖等，香港艺术发展奖2012年年度作家，现旅居台湾，任教艺术大学。曾于中港台出版诗集《八尺雪意》、《半簿鬼语》、《春盏》、《樱桃与金刚》、《一切闪耀都不会熄灭》等十余种，评论集「异托邦指南」系列，散文集《衣锦夜行》、《寻找仓央嘉措》、《有情枝》，小说集《十八条小巷的战争游戏》等。
Liu Waitong is a poet, writer and photographer. He was born in Guangdong in 1975 and moved to Hong Kong in 1997. He has been awarded several literary prizes in Hong Kong and Taiwan, including the China Times Literary Award, the United Daily News Award, and the Hong Kong Arts Development Award for Best Artist (Literature).
Xiao Yue Shan is a poet and editor born in Dongying, China and living in Tokyo, Japan. shellyshan.com.