top of page

Autumn '22 Issue | 2022 秋季刊

Thoughts

by Shirani Rajapakse


We have lost our way

hurrying

towards the future with no

consideration for the present

the past the glories we shared.

There is healing in knowledge

but no one wants

to acknowledge

debts to the past

the people

the ancestors all those

who came before.

We’ve done nothing but

take take take

without a thought to the damage to our selves,

our bodies.

Our beliefs turned

upside down.

Our lives torn out trees

wrenched out roots and all and we

perish like stale milk turning sour

curdling changing ugly yellow

then gone

forever.


Shirani Rajapakse is a Sri Lankan poet and short story writer. Her publications include the award-winning Chant of a Million Women and I Exist. Therefore I Am. Rajapakse’s work also appears in Buddhist Poetry, Silver Birch, Cyclamens & Swords, Asian Signature, New Verse News and more.

思绪

翻译:诗验室


我们已迷失方向

急促走

向未来而不

考虑现在

过去 我们共同的辉煌。

知识可以治愈

但是无人愿意

承认

过去的债

人们

祖先 所有的

过来人。

我们除了索取索取索取

别无作为

根本没有考虑到给自己和身体

所造成的伤害。

我们的信仰

乱七八糟。

我们的生活面目全非树

被强行拔起连根带土然后我们

消失无踪 一如困住的牛奶变酸

凝结蜕变又丑又黄

然后从此

一去不复返。

Shirani Rajapakse 是一位斯里兰卡诗人与短篇小说家。她出版过的书籍有获过奖的《百万女人的呐喊》与《我存。故我在。》她的一些作品还曾出现于《Buddhist Poetry》、《Silver Birch》、《Cyclamens & Swords》、《Asian Signature》、《New Verse News》等处。


 

它不会降临

作者:李曼旎


它不会降临在夏日,绝望的

相同的死期。在见到你的

第一面,我所记得的所有

只剩下我的季节。那里有着

致死般炎毒的空气,流放

的鱼群散发出香味,回不来的人

反复叩着门,他们所说的神迹

其实和任何一块血糊糊的宝石

都没有区别,所有能被命运

取代的东西,都不再是我的结局。

三月适合埋葬,四月适合祈祷,

而困厄的五月适合什么?是注定的

死亡让我有希望,在破碎的

眼睑上,看见相似的蔷薇花盛开。


李曼旎,2002年生于广州。


It Will Not Descend

translated by PLS

It will not descend on a summer’s day, hopeless

same day of death. Upon our

first encounter, all I could recall

was my seasons. There the air

incurably toxic, deported

fish oozing a pleasant smell, those un-returnable

knocking on the door over and over again, the miracle

they mentioned was no different to any

bloody diamond, those interchangeable

with fate, are no longer my ending.

March is good for burials, April for praying,

and for what is the distressed May? It’s the predestined

death that gives me hope, over broken

eyelids, seeing the blooming of indistinguishable roses.


Li Manni, born in Guangzhou in 2002.


 

Oblivion

by Evvy


Looming tides from afar

Fall on anonymous

Attics

Bursts of laughter

Or cry

Crystallize into

Teardrops

Bitterness equals

The sentiment we recall

With one eye

I saw a dynasty that night.


Evvy, currently lives in Shanghai.


遗忘

翻译:诗验室

远处隐约可见的潮

落在匿名的

阁楼

一阵阵欢笑

或者哭泣

结晶成

泪珠


苦楚等同于

我们忆起的忧伤

那晚用一只眼

我看见了一个王朝


Evvy,现居上海。


 

思妇

作者:袁婵

爸爸,你今天

又回来晚了

白色的狗吃掉了你

一半生活的清醒

你说你不想吵架

你关上门

沙发不在家,家里

没有妈妈


他多么像你

爸爸

冰箱贴着待办事件

电话无声,狗在呼吸

它看着我,我也看着我

你既在,又不在

爸爸——我们的餐桌


也是这样的灯吧

你曾在归还我的时间中

拥抱我,在永恒的白昼里

凝望我,他多么像你

爸爸,也会把云朵盛满饭碗

每道菜都是四月的杜鹃


而我在秋天

既想,又不想

爸爸,他像你

醉酒的人转过身

背上爬满火红的蚂蚁

如果十年前你没有

走进那条深深深深的隧道

我是不是不会在这里等他

爸爸


袁婵,作者、翻译。诗作散见《香港文学》《台湾诗学》《新加坡文艺》等刊物。


the abandoned woman

translated by PLS


father, today you

came back late again

the white dog had eaten up

half of your life’s sense

you said you didn’t want to argue

you shut the door

the sofa was not home, there was

no mother


how he resembled you

father

to-do list sticky notes on the fridge

telephone silent, the dog is breathing

watching me, I watch myself

you’re both there, and not there

father — our dining table


there was also a lamp like this

you once hugged me in the time

that was given back to me, in the eternal daytime

staring at me, how he resembled you

father, he would fill the bowl with clouds too

every dish is the azaleas of April


yet I was in the Autumn

both missing, and not missing

father, he resembled you

the drunk who turned around

flaming ants over his back

if ten years ago you did not

walked into that deep deep tunnel

would I not then be here waiting for him

father


Yuan Chan, writer and translator, her works have been published in Hong Kong Literature, Poetry in Taiwan, Singapore Literature and more.


 

from things to ban

for Joseph F. Glidden

by Roy Duffield


there’s no-one around

for hundreds of miles

but a spine and its ribs

hang

the wire that cuts divisive

the land—the next half-

swaddled in its former skin stiffened,

ripped away at

the edges—

the tattered albiceleste waving to no-one

never left

to rest in peace

by the Patagonia winds—the next

still has its eyes big beautiful

and dead—the next—

the next—every few yards

the next—until the one that still struggles

the one that could still be saved.

But living is the only state

never hang-

ing here on display (and besides

there’s no-one around

for hundreds of miles). What

were they thinking

as they lost their last blood

to the desert shrubs

to the barbs

that protect

the absent owners’


land? There’s no-one around

for hundreds of miles


Roy Duffield is a writer, translator, and editor at Anti-Heroin Chic. He is a winner of the Robert Allen Micropoem Contest (2021). His poetry has been published in Flights (Flight of the Dragonfly Press), White Enso, Seppuku Quarterly and so on.


取自《禁止之物》

致约瑟夫·格里登

翻译:诗验室


方圆数百里内

空无一人

然而一条脊椎及其肋骨

悬挂着

将土地分割开来的

铁丝 — 下一个几乎

被其僵硬的旧皮裹住,

在边缘处

被撕开 —

破旧的阿根廷国旗不向任何人打招呼

从未离开

要想在巴塔哥尼亚的风中

安息 — 下一个

眼睛仍在又大又美

又死气沉沉 — 下一个 —

下一个 — 每走几步

下一个 — 直到仍在挣扎的那个

本可以被拯救的那个。

但生存是唯一一种

从不悬

挂在此处被展示的状态(再说了

方圆数百里内

空无一人)。当最后一位后代

因那些用以

保护无人守护之地

的荒漠灌木

与倒刺

而失去性命时他们在想

什么?方圆数百里内

空无一人


Roy Duffield,作者,翻译,兼文艺期刊“Anti Heroin Chic”的编辑。他是2021年 Robert Allen 微诗大赛的获奖者。他的作品散见于《Flights》、《White Enso》与《Seppuku Quarterly》等处。


 

作者:Mary Ventura

希望、失望、绝望、渴望、奢望、巴望、指望,可是,我是个瞎子。

听话、听任、听命、听信、听政、听说、听凭,可是,我是个聋子。

可悲、可叹、可笑、可怜、可惜、可取、可能,可是,我只能

听从、跟从、盲从、顺从、服从、遵从,能不能不从?


Mary Ventura,翻译。其中文诗歌及书评散见于《声韵诗刊》、《文讯》、《Cha》期刊等处。英文诗歌见于《SAND》, 《Asymptote》期刊 “Translation Tuesdays”,《Voice & Verse》 等杂志。创办并主编《字缚》杂志(目前创刊号征稿中)。

Me

translated by PLS


(In Chinese) there’s a vision in hope, disappointment, despair, desire, chimera, expectation, and yet, I am blind;

it requires listening to be obedient, to let alone, to take orders, to attend to state affairs, to hear of things, to allow, and yet, I am deaf.

and an ability to be pathetic, regrettable, laughable, pitiful, sorrowful, commendable, possible, and yet, I am only able

to obey, to tag along, to follow blindly, to yield, to devote, to comply, can I not agree?


Mary Ventura, translator. Her Chinese poems and book reviews have been published in Voice & Verse, Wen Hsun, Cha Journal, and her English poems have appeared in SAND, Asymptote Journal “Translation Tuesdays”, Voice & Verse. She also founded Zi Fu magazine.


 

everything in ruins

by Simon Alderwick

I've been working on this poem so long

vines and tree roots have wrapped around my feet.

Sometimes they squeeze as they crawl up my legs,

breaking my concentration. I look down;

grass and weeds are sprouting through the floorboards.

I look up and see the walls are all cracked.

I turn my head, look outside for the first

time in a long time. Tall trees and forest

where the high street used to be. A wild hog

mauls one of my neighbours, and hawks swoop down

on the remains. If I could just finish

another couple of lines, I think, but

the ceiling caves in and I'm blinded by

sunlight. I'm forced to abandon my work.

Simon Alderwick is from London, England but currently lives in the Philippines. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Magma, Acid Bath, Dust, Poetry Salzburg, London Grip and elsewhere.


废墟中的一切

翻译:诗验室

这么长时间以来我一直在写这首诗

藤状植物与树根已将我的脚重重包围。

有时候他们在顺着我的大腿攀爬时会挤压它,

分散了我的注意力。我低头一看;

杂草正从地板间长出。

我抬头,看见墙壁都已裂开。

我转头,已经很久没有这么

往外看了。原来的商业街

已被树木和森林占据。一只野猪

弄伤我的一位邻居,老鹰直冲而下

扑向残骸。如果我可以再写

两三行,我想,可是

屋顶下陷,阳光使我

双眼灼痛。我被迫放弃这首诗。


Simon Alderwick 来自英国伦敦,现居住于菲律宾。其作品已(或即将)发表于《Magma》、《Acid Bath》、《Dust》、《Poetry Salzburg》及《London Grip》等处。

 

意义