My desk neighbor,
to get ahead of me next term
at the history exams,
bought a roll of toilet paper on Taobao,
printed with the main points of history.
One day when she didn’t pay attention,
I ripped off a square
and ran to the bathroom.
Just when I returned to class,
she who would never leave the room,
flew at me, chasing me
all through the corridor.
I wrote this poem in response to photos of a lawyer in China, reunited with his family after years in detention. That was one year ago at the end of April. Liao Yiwu wrote a poem, and I wrote mine in response. I wrote the poem in Chinese and in German, later also in English. When I posted the Chinese version in China, many people thought the poem was about the end of the first Covid lockdown in Austria. That’s okay. Poetry is poetry. Freedom, let’s hope it is freedom. Heartfelt thanks to Farzaneh Dorri for the Persian translation!
Omi waschen und in den Sarg legen. Das linke Handgelenk, leblos nach einem Schuss Penicillin, ist geschwollen und starr. Der Armreif, der nicht mehr herunter geht, funkelt grün.
新世纪诗典11，女诗人小辑之五，NPC2022年2月20日，3975首，1241人。第26个游若昕（福建）日
中国大好き 