1
your {before birth}
-
[composition / structure]
is painted on the bedsheet
{after birth}
-personality is
[nailed/tacked] on the wall
during birth you travel through
the longest <dark> night in the year
solely in order
to make your second birth
not so
[strenuous/difficult]
you search upwards for the breast
search downwards for footprints
during daytime [lit. when the sky is bright]
you look like your father
during nighttime [lit. when the sky is dark]
you look like your mother
2
three o’clock in the morning
you [embrace / put your arms around] a tree
because
there is no one to [embrace / put their arms around] you
they piss into Funan river
one after another
covering
the sound of vomiting in the flowerbed
some people stay behind to continue counting
the strength of the transparent liquid
when they count to fifty two
they are a little [unconscious / muddled]
they borrow liver and gall
borrow a reason for happiness
and from you borrow away
you and birthday cake
3
go to a slightly more distant place to sleep
you had relations with a ferry boat
will it result in pregnancy
they are {secreted by night
}
-hormones
you are not quite the same
there is no one making you lie down
and no pain making you bend over
you just want to sit on a
<very> steep <very> long earth slope
watching building and moonlight
slide into Jialing river
as soon as you stand up
water spills over the top of your head
4
speaking of {formerly
resided in}-cities
you [express/reveal] too much of your sorrow
sorrow is the {you use
to make a bridge}-material
you [will / want to] go to the opposite bank to spend an evening
give your body to
a non-reflective person
[next / after that]
you can with full [concentration / attention]
[treat / handle / deal with] sorrow
in the difficult-to-endure [time / moment]
suddenly understand
that town, apart from a bridge
has nothing else
5
you [are/were] running away all summer
the route of your running away
a straight line like a backbone
the bum lands right in the heart of the night city
the surface of Zhongshan Street
has a layer of scorched pastry
in just the same way is a straight line to a certain main road
a certain day in July
the degree of the interlocking between teeth
here becomes a corner
honey roasted ribs, old-friend noodles, Water Baby Desserts...
all go into
a stomach without illumination
your sense of [satiety / being full]
is sometimes because of the satisfaction of running away
is sometimes because of the padding of lamplight
6
the car takes you to
a place called Huu Lung
the national border is
gulping down floodwater behind you
between you and danger
are eight suns and
a one
-hour time difference
in the place you want to go
the clouds work
faster than in the place you left
the vehicle continues to drive south
the sky is turning dark
in the place where you cannot see clouds
you should stop
7
Hoàn Kiem Lake [lowers/releases] its waters up to the sky
you go around Hoàn Kiem Lake
you want to go up to the sky too
the water in the sky, on the contrary [lowers/releases] onto your body
you are so wet only gravity remains
there is nowhere you can go
wearing the {this country
is very proud of}
-slippers
pacing under the eaves
hard to get to [lit: enter] sleep
you think of areas further south
the water of the Mekong River
has never <yet>
soaked your clothes
8
you have an engine
plateau you do not have any more
the plateau became
as tall as you
sometimes slanted
shaking to its feet
the pine forests and Wester
n
-style homes of French guys
you met a Japanese man
daytime you do have not any more
you sit opposite him
he prepares food for you
every bite you take
is like hauling
endless darkness
you ignite the engine and leave
spending the whole journey thinking back
darkness truly is a delicious thing
9
the train has come
beneath the train all is [unhealthy legs / crippled legs]
it with its winding route
takes the shape of dislocation and fracture
the train keeps on coming
carrying
a shredded Milky Way
to sell to insomniacs
you sleep in a {beside the tracks }-little house
awaiting the descent of insomnia
the train has limpingly come
you exchange a pair of healthy legs
for a small square of sky
10
you insist on travelling by boat
to rescue the ears that drowned in a dream
all you scoop out is a <segment
of> distant noise
the sound is a little hunchbacked
it uses its last strength to say:
the bed has been made
the food is on the table
have received several letters
have replaced the living room
<hanging
> light
that happened to be the last day of summer
the door opened a crack
that <segment of> sound
one day at a time
straightens up
11
immediately after waking
the autumn outside the window
the silhouette has not yet appeared
the object that has appeared
is hidden within the heart
one you comes back from the depths of night
one you
crawls out from a body
two yous
squeezing into the dust, meet
without any noise
fall onto your eyelashes
