Zhao Zhuangzhi
FIRST FLOOR
On the dormitory’s first floor,
conditions are worst.
Moss on wooden doors,
rust on window bars.
From outside, passing the windows,
I see three special rooms,
with their own bathroom,
doors and windows aluminum,
Simmons mattress.
A black student
wielding a club
to chase a mouse
that ran in from the Chinese students next door.
6/12/20, Zhanjiang
Translated by MW, June 2020
《月亮》
【奥地利】维马丁
伊沙、老G译
月亮
被孤立地
高悬在外
月亮
被孤立地
高悬在外
在云层后面
越过花木
天又冷了几分
2020年3月
WIRKLICHKEIT
In Wirklichkeit ist es immer wie jetzt.
Halt nicht auf einmal,
doch in der Schwebe,
ein bisschen versetzt.
In Wirklichkeit ist
dein Leben nicht fest,
sicher ist gar nichts,
egal was wer sagt.
In Wirklichkeit bist du Tanz und Musik.
Wir sind was sich dreht
oder steht
und jemanden sucht
solang es noch geht.
MW 1. April 2020
CORONA
Actually it’s always like this
for many people.
You live from one day to the next.
Only now it’s a big deal
for the whole world
for a while.
MW April 1st, 2020
疫情
其实生活一直就这样
对很多人，所有的现象。
要躲起来，
要避免警察。
要依赖邻居，
要怕一些邻居。
每天每一刻都可能被传染，
要互相照顾。
2020.4.1
MOON
the moon
is hanging out
in isolation
the moon
is hanging out
in isolation
behind the clouds
over flowering trees
it’s getting cold again
MW March 2020
1 POEM/DAY
One poem per day
takes nothing away,
I want to say.
But everything takes time,
every drug,
every mask,
every care.
So one poem per day
could take away
whatever else you would have had.
But then you could
hear it again,
whatever you do,
if it was good.
MW March 2020
GRINDING
The world is grinding to a halt.
So are we all madly in love?
Or have we come to our senses
about the climate
between each other?
About working together?
We don’t have a choice.
And we don’t have a choice
in hoping it will soon be over.
And we still let them set our clocks.
MW March 29, 2020
ACHTSAMKEIT
Achtsamkeit
hat sehr viel mit Neunsamkeit zu tun,
das sagen alle großen
Neunsamkeitslehrer.
Aber die großen Samenbanken,
die fangen frühestens
ab Zehnsamkeit an,
mit Ihnen zu reden.
MW März 2020
DELIBERATE DEMOCRACY
everyone wants deliberation
what do workers want
more money
more rights
less accidents
less insecurity
less misery
less discrimination
what do employers
and state agents want
nothing
in comparison
they have everything
only in certain cases
certain uncertain cases
they are very certain
everyone needs deliberation
rather than killing and maiming
each other
china has talked about democracy
very much
at least since 1919
austria too
so let us deliberate
how to give workers
in certain uncertain cases
maybe just a little bit
of deliberation
MW May 2017
From a small conference on Monday, May 15. Law studies and Petition Office representants from China. Vienna University law faculty and East Asian studies professors. Well-meaning reports on labor conflicts and “deliberative democracy”. Meanwhile we’ll have another big election in Austria in October. Last year was just the figurehead president. Could have been a Neo-German alt-right figurehead. It was close. Would have been ok with the foreign minister. Also with the governors of Burgenland and Lower Austria, the provinces around Vienna. They are working with the xenophobe extreme right Freedom party. Or looking forward to that. No, we don’t rally around the republic against neo-fascist and anti-European forces like they do in France. Although we finally tried last year and succeeded. And our president now is a Green independent. Yeah, that’s where my poems come from. China and Asia, Austria and Europe. Taiwan. Czech Republic. And so on. Like The Sun Also Crashes. That was in Vermont, right before the last US mid-term elections.
POETRY
poetry
is impo
rtant
truth
is impo
tent
or is it
or are you
MW February 2017
REPORT
every report
every detailed incisive report
kind that makes powerful people squirm
is just as important
as any art
any poem
any church, temple
that makes you pause
think
feel
every report
MW February 2017
Han Yu
FELL DOWN AND DIED WATCHING THE MOVIES
as a bonus for the workers
at the all men’s dormitory
the mine partitioned the uppermost floor
and set up rooms for visiting spouses
from the opposite roof
you could see any move that went on inside
that was a secret all mine workers knew
one summer
one man fell from the roof
everyone said
he fell down and died watching the movies
Tr. MW, December 2016
