by Yang Li
     trs. by Sophia Kidd

we stand on the river bank
shouting loudly to the
person on the other side
i wonder if he heard
i just know that he
didn’t look back
he is walking
much further away
so far that we call
more loudly
he still can’t hear
we are shouting

by Na Ye
trs. by Chen Xiaoyuan

I folded us out of paper
One got old, the other
got old, too
Unable to do anything else
In those years, we consumed too much hidden passion

I exhaled warm air, and a courtyard appeared
I called woof-woof, and a puppy came
I sowed sunflower seeds, and green peas grew
I held a tea-leaf
and a tea garden showed
I said, hey, and you came along
happier than the magpie at the door
— in that place faraway

Unable to do anything else
we smoked, drunk, kissed while taking a walk —
wrinkles on our foreheads
spirit in the wrinkles

When God recognised us
He turned the paper people back into pieces of paper

It is not a heart-breaking narration
— we’ve talked about it. I will grow again, plump up, and meet
you.

by Na Ye
     trs. by Chen Xiaoyuan

Not you!  It’s the disappearing teenager in your body who holds me
It’s his proud and pure heart under the white shirt
The love written in the diary
The book dropped on the library stairs

What holds me!  Is the blue and waves which fill the Baltic Sea
The setting sun wet by rain   the roofless church
The hidden bells

And prayers   the sacred light of beautiful things
that my withering imagination can reach

When I sigh   It’s the baby in your body who refuses to enter the
world
His cry
— his dual contempt for life and death
holds me

— Here   In this mortal world
lonely people
buy and sell from each other
confess to each other

Physical intimacy doesn’t endow them with spiritual love
Or is it the reason you to write poetry?

The fountain of different forms of art   as if time has restored its
memory
I see in my closed eyes
A drop of ocea
flows

It’s the waves that hold me!  Not you
What I refused were the times
Not you nor me
“Whoever leaves the world first
shall write an elegy”

Listen to me: I come to the world to apologise to myself

by Ning Yaoyu
trs. by Wang Ping

The stove is roasting potatoes
It’s also roasting the floating clouds
I say “I love you,” meaning
I’ve asked myself: Am I willing to die for you
The fire is gone.  In the ash
You find what I treasure the most
Are you lost?
Please wait till I return to the stars
And I’ll roast the night
Till it shines again