glasses, a pair of glasses
I used the term ‘a pair’. See, W.
sometimes I do pay attention to technical terms my feeling of unreality, where does it come from?
after putting the glasses in the drawer
the drawer shut, opened again
the glasses are gone
three times in a fortnight
walking out of my room
I bump into a cat
its fur feels softer each time
I almost lose myself in details but there are some cats one no longer needs to greet
final impression of the drawer: it’s simply closed
when I ask someone, what kind of flower is this? she replies joyfully: this is morning glory
As part of our collaborative translation process, translator Dave Haysom explained that in Chinese, the ‘measure word’ qualifies a noun, rather like a collective noun in English: a murder of crows, a gaggle of geese. It could also be something like a loaf of bread, or a stick of gum. ‘Untitled’ by Rong Yu pulls our attention into details in a playful way: ‘See… sometimes I do pay attention to technical terms.’ The poet almost gets lost in details, but not quite: sometimes there is no deep meaning and the drawer is simply closed. We enjoyed experimenting with tenses and repetitions in the poem as we worked on it in English, keeping to its conversational tone and its leaps from one image to the next. The poem ends with a flourish, which, although it might carry a playful sexual undertone in English, in Chinese simply glories in the name of a flower!
Miriam Nash, Workshop Facilitator
