Shang Zhen
(China)
Hometown
Train with me, leaving hometown
Reluctant, but I have to
I wonder how many people are like me
Coming back once every few years
Bring hometown far away for long
In order to survive, alien land was called hometown
Too grievous
Hometown is not origin on the account
Not native dialect hard to change
It is DNA inside emotion
In alien land
Will say native dialect once happy
Will think of childhood playmate when depressed
When embarrassed to leave the city once making a living
But can not go back home
That drop of tears of sorrow and grief
Will revolve to salt
People over fifty often feel
The sun has the same temperature as the moon
Only hometown, is carbon ambushing dark fire
Train runs rapidly
I turned back to face the trail
And comforted myself
I was leaving hometown backwards
© Trans. by Grace Xie
Pulling teeth
Anesthetic needle taken
Those two men put my mouth
As a quarry
After sawing, drilling, smashing, prying
The doctor asked me: « Does it hurt you? »
I gave no answer
I will not tell the truth to those
Who manhandled my flesh
My flesh was anesthetized
My nerve was more subtle
The sound « thump, thump » of breaking my teeth was
Like barbaric demolition
I think: conquering human’s limbs and will is
More brutal than the disease
My teeth was pulled out
The hardest part in mouth was removed
But the hardest part in my body
Could never be removed by any tool
© Trans. by Grace Xie
Divorces
To know the sound of breaking for the first time
Pleasant sound also
« Bang —- crashing »
Is sounded after the timpani
Orchestra and percussion appear at the same time
A porcelain of beautiful appearance
Flying from here to yond
Like elegant somersault of athletes dive from high platform
Bottles landed, flowers bloom
Bottle freed
Do not have to carry rigorous appearance for visiting
Do not have to hide the emptiness inside
No longer have to brush off the dust every day
Surface clean
Bottle is made for completion
Live for soundness
Crashing is due to accidents
While an accident may be practiced for many years
The first and also the last takeoff
Bottle, let porcelain
The ancient emblem
Instantly be reduced to dust
© Trans. by Grace Xie
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Shang Zhen, born on April 1960 in Yingkou, Liaoning Province. He began to learn to write poetry in late 1970s. He has published « Smoke In the Desert », « White Paper Written for God, » and so on. He once worked for the « People’s Literature », and now is Executive Editor-in-Chief of « Poetry Periodical » which are both charged by China Writers Association.