Pang Qiongzhen
LILIEN
In einer Nacht
geschüttelt von Sturm und Regen
sind die Lilien im Hof aufgegangen.
Feine lange Hälse
mit sehr großen Köpfen.
Sechs Staubgefäße
dicht gedrängt um einen Stempel.
Auf einmal aufgesprungen jetzt in der Früh nach dem Regen.
Oh! So schön. So laut und klar.
So hab ichs gehört vor 30 Jahren
bei der Geburt meines Sohnes,
dass mein Muttermund aufgeht.
1. Juni 2020
Übersetzt von MW im August 2020
Yi Sha
CHRISTMAS MEMORY
In the early 1990s
the city I live in
didn’t celebrate Christmas.
The college I teach at did,
a foreign languages campus.
It was more like each class had it’s own party,
students and their foreign teachers
singing foreign Christmas carols
into the air from the classroom building
and into the sky looking for snowflakes
to sing with in harmony.
I would stop and listen,
feeling the civilization and beauty
patching my still raw wounds inside.
2019
Translated by MW, December 2019
圣诞之忆 | 伊沙
在1990年代初期
我所在的城市
是不过圣诞节的
我任教的大学
一所外语学院过
更像是各班在开联欢会
学生与他们的外教
用外语唱的圣诞歌
从教学楼的窗口飘出来
为天空中有或没有的雪花
唱出和声
引我驻足倾听
感觉到文明与美好
内心的新伤在愈合
GORBACHEV
Gorbachev is a moral voice.
The leader of an empire is
a moral voice for most of his life.
He tried everything to preserve
the empire he undermined.
He is a Communist.
And so
Gorbachev is a moral voice
for the world.
Reagan was a supportive
Cowboy actor.
Very supportive
for speculators
and Contra terrorists
and Kissinger’s and Thatcher’s
and the Chicago Boys’ Pinochet.
Very supportive.
Gorbachev is for democracy
and world peace.
Could he be a leader
of the European Union,
could he be a good one?
He’s too old anyway.
But it would have to include Russia
to say nothing of Britain
of course
and so on.
Wish we all
all people affected
would have a say.
P.S.: My wife
thinks this is hogwash.
She doesn’t like my political poems.
What do you think?
I know I have to write a lot
and translate and read
and do a lot of other stuff
to write some good ones.
So there.
MW November 2019
P.P.S.: Here are some great photos and a short film from the GDR: https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/089938-000-A/radfahrer/
And here is Gorbachev’s Pizza Hut commercial from 1997. Click on the image to read a hilarious Foreign Policy article and watch the commercial.
Photo by Hangang Lu
TIME
My best time for writing poetry
was when I had time,
when I had all the time in the world
and nary a care.
I had time enough to read
Yu Hua’s every novel and many stories,
just because of the feel of his language
and Republic of Wine by Mo Yan
and Gao Xingjian, all in Chinese.
I didn’t write many poems.
Maia was small. I had time before her.
Actually, translating more poetry
began just before Leo was born.
Anyway, we were in China
forever.
MW June 2019
《时间》
维马丁诗
伊沙译
我写诗的最佳时间
是在我有时间的时候，
当我拥有这个世界上所有的时间
并且毫不在意。
我有足够的时间阅读
余华的每一部长篇小说和许多短篇小说，
只是因为他的语言感觉
莫言的《酒国》
还有高行健，全是中文。
我写诗不多。
玛雅还小。我在她出生前有时间。
其实，还是翻译做得更多
在乐友出生前就开始了。
不管怎样，我们在中国
永远。
2019年6月
Mateusz Grochocki/Getty Images
Shen Haobo
HONG KONG
for thirty years
every single year
spring days waning
cicadas come calling
that one day
people there
come out in the streets
light candles for us
observe our memory
grieve
for us
they do not forget
the only city on earth
2019.6.13
Translated by MW, 6/15/19
“I don’t dare to share this poem in my WeChat groups. Unfortunately, most people in mainland China have no idea at all what happens abroad. They don’t know anything. Least of all that Hong Kong is a very special city with a great heart full of love and freedom. And for us Chinese people, that single one city on earth is slowly disappearing.”
Translated by MW, 6/15/19
《香港》
沈浩波
三十年来
从未间断
每逢春日渐逝
蝉声响起
的那一天
那里的人
就会上街
替我们点上蜡烛
替我们祭奠
替我们
悲伤
替我们不遗忘
地球上仅此一城
2019.6.13
可惜这首诗写完后我都没敢在朋友圈发出来。大部分大陆人根本不知道[外国]那边正在发生什么。什么都不知道。更没有什么人知道，香港这座城市，有一颗伟大的拥有爱和自由的心。而这对于华人来说的，地球上仅有的城，恐怕也将慢慢消失了。
VERTRETER
fühlst du dich nicht ein bisschen schuldig
fährst nach xinjiang und siehst keine lager
fährst offiziell, als vertreter des auslands
nicht für menschenrechte aber doch immerhin
was ist wenn das schöne wetter nie aufhört
der himmel bleibt ewig immer nur blau
es regnet nicht mehr
eine ewige trockene buchmesse
in frankfurt das ganze jahr
deutschland ist viel zu schön
österreich ist viel zu schön
beijing ist viel zu schön
außer ein paar gewitter
diesmal ist vielleicht keiner gestorben
aber die winterolympiade
wer soll die machen wenn es nicht schneit
und auch nicht regnet
in china und sonstwo
und sommerolympia auch sowieso
vom sonstigen leben gar nicht zu reden
was ist wenn die lager noch schlimmer werden
und das schöne wetter hört nie mehr auf
wer ist ein offizieller vertreter
für schönes wetter für schönwetterfreundschaft
vielleicht kannst du auch nichts anderes machen
aber man soll über lager reden
natürlich auch über das wetter
und so weiter und siehe oben
MW Oktober 2018
Photo: AFP Willnow
CHAMNATZ
chamnatz
klatsch-kanak-stadt
hat an chamnatz dar staat varsagt?
was dann sanst
ja abar
war hat an macklanbarg-varpammarn
varsagt?
an wasmar?
was as markal?
war as schradar?
ada dar kahl?
rachta hatz
vahl rachta hatz
alta and janga mannar
and fraan
an arapa
an angarn
an palan
and tschachaan
an astarrach
chamnatz
war ana schana stadt
MW August 2018
SOMETIMES
Sometimes you can go back in time.
You go back to a house,
you go back to a beach,
you go back to picking blueberries.
You used to find many other small berries,
behind the house left from Soviet times.
They used to spy on the whole town from that house.
Not tall, rather long,
converted for tourists.
That house is gone now,
hope they left the woods alone.
Sometimes you can go back in time.
Trees would have swayed,
wind would have blown
almost the same in grandmother’s time.
I’m sure the sunset was just as beautiful
through war and holocaust and deportation.
Sometimes you can go back in time.
Grandmother’s house is here,
you sang the songs from grandmother’s time
on the big stage with thousands and thousands.
Zile is here,
your relatives will always be here.
Sometimes you can go back in time.
We were here five years ago
and before,
when the kids were small
and fit in a bicycle carrier.
We rode rented bikes and walked through the woods
to the tip of the peninsula.
Very nice there,
hope they preserve it.
Housing from the 70s maybe,
other historical memories
including 1990.
Independence,
rediscovery of your inheritance.
A precarious future.
Sometimes you can
go back in time.
MW July 2018
2CV
für esther und gudrun
2cv in unserem hof
es ist kein auto
2 cv
jedenfalls 2 burschenschafter
soll man sich aufregen
es ist fronleichnam
katholische kirche
2 cv
im hof hier in wien
jedenfalls sehr wahrscheinlich
relativ harmlos
MW Juni 2017
