Translated by Liuyu Ivy Chen

A cinematic disposition threads through the poems of Zhu Yiye 朱一叶, a lilting litany of images possessive of their own sensations. Taking advantage fully of poetry’s more compact nature, Zhu does not tell so much as direct the eye here and there, giving the reader that thrilling sense of noticing. In “Wooden Shutters”, translator Liuyu Ivy Chen transmits the haunting voyeurism of the original, allowing the envisionings to echo through.

Spittoon Literary Magazine Issue 7—featuring more Zhu Yiye—will be released April 3rd at our release party in Beijing. You can sign up to attend here.

木头百叶窗

海倾斜了
迅速的后退
令人眩晕

海风吹咸了嘴唇
又吹淡了声音

在明晃晃的街道
闭起眼睛
也会看见
它们 老旧的
木头百叶窗

拼命吮吸
窗子里的
昏暗阴凉

窥探被窗子
切割成横条的
抚顺男人
与法国少女

努力辨认
细碎脚步
衣衫摩挲
木床颤抖
呢喃耳语
咒骂哭泣
舀水清洗

粉色的大石头
有着炙热的肌理
晦涩的洞穴
在渗出水
在不断渗出
咸苦的海水 

而海上的船就要
被蚂蚁吃光了

木头百叶窗就要
被蚂蚁吃光了 

男人和少女早就
被蚂蚁吃光了


   

Wooden Shutters

The sea tilts
Receding fast
Dizzying

Sea-wind salts lips
And thins voices

In the bright street
Close your eyes
You’ll still see
Them, the old worn
Wooden shutters

Sucking desperately at
The shade
Inside the windows

Peeking at the Fushun man
And the French girl
Cut to stripes
By the shutters

Trying to make out
Minced steps
Ruffled shirts
Creaky bedstead
Murmurs and moans
Curses and cries
Splashes of ladled water

The pink boulder
With burning grains
An obscured cave
Seeping water
Endless seeping
Of acrid sea-water

And the ship on the sea will be
Eaten by ants

The wooden shutters will be
Eaten by ants

The man and the girl have long been
Eaten by ants

 

   

朱一叶是自由职业作家、诗人、导演，现居烟台。她的作品英译已经或将发表在《洛杉矶书评》中华频道，《LIT 杂志》，《华盛顿广场评论》和《No Token 杂志》上。她在中国出版了两本故事集，《死于象蹄》（2018年）和《吃麻雀的少女》（2019年）。中篇小说《吃麻雀的少女》获第五届豆瓣阅读征文大赛文艺小说组首奖。

Zhu Yiye is a writer, poet, and filmmaker living in Yantai, China. Her short stories and poems in English translation have appeared or are forthcoming from the Los Angeles Review of Books China Channel, LIT Magazine, Washington Square Review, and No Tokens. She has published two story collections in China: Si yu xiang ti (Killed by an Elephant Hoof, 2018) and Chi maque de shaonu (A Girl Who Eats Sparrows 2019). The latter won first prize in the literary category of the 5th Read Douban Creative Writing Contest in China.

Liuyu Ivy Chen is a poet, writer, and translator living in Atlanta. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming from Hanging Loose Magazine, Columbia Journal, the Ploughshares Blog, the Los Angeles Review of Books China Channel, SupChina, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, among others. She received an MFA in poetry from New York University, and co-founded TransWords.net.