Jiang Tao
CHRISTMAS TREES ON THE SQUARE
The street lamps on the side of the square
are hung with security cameras
like a bunch of abandoned
Christmas trees.
6/28/19
Translated by MW, September 2019
Jiang Tao
CHRISTBÄUME AUF DEM PLATZ
Die Straßenlampen auf dem Platz an der Seite
sind behängt mit lauter Überwachungskameras,
wie verlassene Christbäume.
28.6.’19
Übersetzt von MW im September 2019
广场上的圣诞树
蒋涛
广场边的路灯下
挂满了监视器
像一棵棵废弃的
圣诞树
2019.06.28
BRATISLAVA II
the danube flows
in the evening people sit in the sun
on the southwestern side
in the summer months
there are concerts on the main square
and in the cafés
the views are great from the castle
and from the liberation monument
and cemetery further up
some of the soldiers buried are women
in the summer months
the synagogue is open
as a museum
they have a nice garden
it is a functioning synagogue
all year round
the only one left
they had bigger ones
even after the war
after the holocaust
now this is the only one left
they built a freeway
interstate quality
right through the old city
it’s a functioning freeway
it’s a beautiful city
shabby in places, but proud
somehow still healing
the danube flows
MW July 2019
AVENGER’S ENDGAME
I am seeing Endgame,
thinking of Třebíč.
“It all ends here.”
We were in Třebíč
when the last Harry Potter came out.
We saw it in Czech in 3D
in the town’s only theatre.
Třebíč is very well preserved.
It’s a real town like so many
with a real Jewish cemetery.
They had a motorcycle convention
when we were in town in 2011.
Maybe the Travellers’ Inn is still there
by the bridge.
MW May 2019
Rich Polk/Getty Images
Martin Winter
ENDGAME
I really love Iron Man.
He lives in a garbage can
with his wife the Black Widow.
They don’t wait for Godot,
they take notes from Ant-Man
and travel into the past quantum realm
to thwart the Big Evil.
Thor gets a beer belly from
thinking about this.
MW May 5th, 2019
Xu Jiang
THIS YEAR, TODAY
To keep a distance from fashion
I refuse to talk of May 4th.
May 2019
Translated by MW, May 2019
今年，今天｜徐江
为了和时尚保持距离
我拒绝谈论五·四
Xu Jiang
ART TALK：FLASHING SKILLS
In literature,
honesty without being wooden
is hardest,
just like in life.
April 2019
Translated by MW, May 2019
艺谭·炫技｜徐江
对文学来讲
老实而不木
最难
和活着一样
君儿读诗 | 2019年4月好诗选
君儿读诗 | 2019年4月好诗选
Mateusz Grochocki/Getty Images
Frederic J. Brown/ Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
