Poem

Yan Jun

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August 19

The sesame cakes are burning   I pause on top of the fire
white clouds steam up    half the summer has already passed

I pause in the fire   watching the ants stroll by
A woman   from the West
stares at me   she loves no one

I pause where the fire has burnt out
like a motionless rag

I eat the entire kitchen
including the fire    it makes me uneasy

19 AUGUSTUS

de shaobing zijn gebakken    ik sta stil bij het vuur
witte walmen van het stomen    de zomer is half voorbij

ik sta stil in het vuur    en zie mieren lopen
een vrouw   uit het westen
ziet mij staren   ze houdt van niemand

ik sta stil op de plaats waar het vuur gedoofd is
als een stilgeworden doek

ik heb de hele keuken opgegeten
ook het vuur   en dat is heel naar

Yan Jun

(China, 1973)

In recent years, the poet and musician Yan Jun has been writing mainly diary poems and explications of aspects of contemporary China, along with allusions to classical subject matter. One feature of Yan Jun’s poetry is its vitality and rapid turnover of images, one following on rhythmically from the other. In ‘Charter Sonnet’, for instance, each line begins urgently with the repeated phras...

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Poems of Yan Jun

August 19

The sesame cakes are burning   I pause on top of the fire
white clouds steam up    half the summer has already passed

I pause in the fire   watching the ants stroll by
A woman   from the West
stares at me   she loves no one

I pause where the fire has burnt out
like a motionless rag

I eat the entire kitchen
including the fire    it makes me uneasy

August 19

The sesame cakes are burning   I pause on top of the fire
white clouds steam up    half the summer has already passed

I pause in the fire   watching the ants stroll by
A woman   from the West
stares at me   she loves no one

I pause where the fire has burnt out
like a motionless rag

I eat the entire kitchen
including the fire    it makes me uneasy