POEMS FROM OCTOBER – Yi Sha 伊沙
Yi Sha
SKY IN SHANGHAI
on our first afternoon in shanghai
there was a symposium
at the academy of social sciences
dinner in another building
eating dinner
I have to go to the bathroom
from the bathroom window
I see the sky
it is just getting dark
the sun is setting
the sky is red
this is a whole different sky
my mother
grew up under this sky
now she and the sky
they have become one
October 2015
Tr. MW, Nov. 2015
《上海的天空》
到达上海的头天下午
在社科院
开了一下午研讨会
晚餐时进了另一幢楼
进餐过程中
我上了一回厕所
从厕所的窗子
看见上海的天空
正值黄昏
夕阳西下
红霞满天
那是不一样的天空啊
我的母亲
望着它长大
如今已经与它
融为一体
Yi Sha
WHO IS GOING TO SLEEP WITH YOU
my wife is on a business trip
asks me on the phone:
“who will sleep with you tonight?”
“a flea”
is my answer
it’s the truth
I had classes all day
had a nap at noon in the teacher’s room
on the old sofa
and got bitten all over
October 2015
Tr. MW, Nov. 2015
《谁陪你睡觉》
在外出差的妻
打来电话问：
“今晚谁陪你睡觉？”
“一只虱子”
我回答道
我说的是真的
今儿我全天有课
午休在教研室的
一张破沙发上
被咬了一身疙瘩
Yi Sha
DREAM 566
I don’t trust this group of people
they are sitting at a round table
eating their fill from a big plate of living
bugs
October 2015
Tr. MW, Nov. 2015
《梦（566）》
我不信任的一伙人
围坐在一个圆桌边
在大吃一盘活着的
虫子
Yi Sha
DREAM 567
the chinese men’s basketball team
came back after four years on top of asia
and earned their ticket for the olympics
in rio next year
after I saw the game
I fell asleep, then I saw it again
they still won the cup
but the process was different
even the finals
there was another opponent
October 2015
Tr. MW, Nov. 2015
《梦（567）》
中国男篮在时隔四年后
重新夺回亚洲冠军
并拿到明年
里约奥运会的入场券
在看完决赛的夜里
我又梦见了他们夺冠
结果是一样的
但过程全然不同
连决赛对手都换了
Yi Sha
DREAM 568
the japanese have occupied china
and installed cameras in every classroom
they need to watch every minute
everything I am teaching
my hate for the japanese
keeps building up
till the day it explodes
October 2015
Tr. MW, Nov. 2015
《梦（568）》
日本占领时期
教室里安装了探头
他们时刻监视着
我在课堂上的讲授
我对日本人的仇恨
蓄积着
等待爆发的一天
Yi Sha
DREAM 569
I am a woman
the dissident zhang zhixin
trussed up for slaughter
led to the river bank
for execution
a bullet is coming
it goes right between my brows
but I don’t fall down
I am not dead
I feel electricity
up and down in my body
the sky is blue as never before
October 2015
Tr. MW, 2015
《梦（569）》
我是女人
是张志新
被五花大绑
押往河滩
执行枪决
一颗子弹射来
正中我眉心
却没有倒下
没有死
全身上下
通电之感
天空无比湛蓝
Yi Sha
DREAM 570
I dreamed of a window
what was outside the window
that was the part
I cannot remember
October 2015
Tr. MW, Nov. 2015
《梦（570）》
我梦见了
一扇窗子
窗外景色
是梦醒之后
忘却的部分
Yi Sha
DREAM 571
I took a nap
I had a dream
I’m sure of that
but forgot all the contents
the whole afternoon
I couldn’t remember one thing
it felt as bad
as loosing money
October 2015
Tr. MW, Nov. 2015
《梦（571）》
午觉时
我做了个梦
我只记得
这个行为
但却忘记了内容
整个下午
怎么想也想不起
就像丢了钱
一样难受
Yi Sha
DREAM 572
I always thought
I don’t like women who are good in sports
but why am I dreaming
of a girl in high school
who sat next to me
she was javelin champion
I feel very nervous
I am very much under pressure
this is the second time
I am dreaming about her
I wrote another poem
about that first time
October 2015
Tr. MW, Nov. 2015
《梦（572）》
我一直以为
我不喜欢
体育型的女生
但为什么
当我梦见
中学时代那个
女子标枪冠军
做了我同桌时
却诚惶诚恐
倍感压力
有诗可查
这已经是
我第二次梦见她
Yi Sha
DREAM 574
“this is a contemporary poem“,
says the shanghai poet lu yu
about a piece by qi guo.
“many people write modern poems,
but they don’t write contemporary poems.”
this really happened three days ago
in zhujiajiao water town next to shanghai
at a poetry festival.
now I have dreamed about it
because I have said a while ago:
“if it isn’t contemporary,
it isn’t really a modern poem.”
October 2015
Tr. MW, Nov. 2015
《梦（574）》
“这是一首当代诗”
上海诗人陆渔在评点
祁国的一首诗：
“大部分诗人
写的是现代诗
而不是当代诗……”
那是在三天前
在上海朱家角水乡诗会上
真实发生过的一幕
重现在我昨夜的梦中
那是因为我早就说过：
“缺乏当代性
绝非真正的现代诗”
Yi Sha
DREAM 578
I am having a fight with my wife.
Some chicken-feather-small thing,
garlic-peal-thing, we can’t stop fighting.
An old holy man
comes down from the sky,
and touches the crown of her head.
She stops fighting with me.
I take a great leap
to jump into the sky
and beat that old man.
October 2015
Tr. MW, Nov. 2015
《梦（578）》
我和老婆在吵架
为件鸡毛蒜皮的小事
吵个不休
一个仙翁
从天而降
伸手摸了她的顶
她就不再跟我吵了
我一跃而起
跃上天空
追打仙翁
Yi Sha
DREAM 580
some town in yunnan
probably dali
she is selling flowers
gets me to follow her
into a dark room
then she has changed
into a prostitute
I haven’t done anything
but I am getting caught
October 2015
Tr. MW, Nov. 2015
《梦（580）》
云南某城
好像是大理
一个卖花女
将我引诱到
一个小黑屋
摇身一变
成卖淫女
我啥都没干
却当场被抓
Yi Sha
DREAM 581
As a volunteer
I walk into
a camp of syrian refugees
I am very surprised
everyone of them
looks like one of us
from the country I come from.
I know their faces,
they all look like family.
October 2015
Tr. MW, Nov. 2015
《梦（581）》
作为一名志愿者
我走进
叙利亚难民营
惊讶地发现
他们都长着
一张张同胞的脸
把我认作
祖国的亲人
中国大好き 