Poem
Yan Jun
APRIL 1, sunny and windy. We ate sesame cakes and salad for lunch
We turned into whatever we ateturned into sheep, peaches, chicken’s feet, sometimes hot peppers
We ate at the same time, sometimes we didn’t eat
In the morning we ate the night, in the south we ate compasses
Ate tears, ate up a country, putting the leftovers in the fridge
sometimes we ate people, some people objected
We discovered medicine, sometimes it was poison
we got excited, sometimes we didn’t move, as if we’d eaten turtles
We fell in love, becoming part of each other
We turned into politics, turned into chemistry, we didn’t care
We will die, becoming part of time itself
one grain of rice, two grains of rice, in the midst of the steam we forget
© Translation: 2011, Ao Wang and Eleanor Goodman
Publisher: First published on PIW, , 2011
Publisher: First published on PIW, , 2011
1 APRIL, ZONNIG MET WIND. SHAOBING EN SALADE VOOR LUNCH
we veranderen in wat we eteneen schaap, een perzik, kippentenen en soms ook chilipepers
we eten tegelijk, soms eten we niet
we eten de nacht voor ontbijt, een kompas in het zuiden
we eten tranen, eten een land, de restjes gaan in de koelkast
soms eten we mensen, iets dat niet iedereen tolereert
we hebben medicijn ontdekt, soms is het gif
we zijn ontroerd, soms roerloos, alsof we een schildpad hebben opgegeten
onze liefde voor elkaar, wordt een deel van de ander
we worden politiek, we worden chemisch, het maakt ons niet uit
we gaan dood en worden zelf de tijd
een korrel rijst, twee korrels rijst, we worden vergeten in de stoom
© Vertaling: 2011, Audrey Heijns
Publisher: 2011, First Published on PIW,
Shaobing: hartige gebakken broodjes, soms met vulling, soms met sesamzaad erop.
Publisher: 2011, First Published on PIW,
© 2010, Yan Jun
Poems
Poems of Yan Jun
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APRIL 1, sunny and windy. We ate sesame cakes and salad for lunch
We turned into whatever we ateturned into sheep, peaches, chicken’s feet, sometimes hot peppers
We ate at the same time, sometimes we didn’t eat
In the morning we ate the night, in the south we ate compasses
Ate tears, ate up a country, putting the leftovers in the fridge
sometimes we ate people, some people objected
We discovered medicine, sometimes it was poison
we got excited, sometimes we didn’t move, as if we’d eaten turtles
We fell in love, becoming part of each other
We turned into politics, turned into chemistry, we didn’t care
We will die, becoming part of time itself
one grain of rice, two grains of rice, in the midst of the steam we forget
© 2011, Ao Wang and Eleanor Goodman
Publisher: 2011, First published on PIW,
Publisher: 2011, First published on PIW,
APRIL 1, sunny and windy. We ate sesame cakes and salad for lunch
We turned into whatever we ateturned into sheep, peaches, chicken’s feet, sometimes hot peppers
We ate at the same time, sometimes we didn’t eat
In the morning we ate the night, in the south we ate compasses
Ate tears, ate up a country, putting the leftovers in the fridge
sometimes we ate people, some people objected
We discovered medicine, sometimes it was poison
we got excited, sometimes we didn’t move, as if we’d eaten turtles
We fell in love, becoming part of each other
We turned into politics, turned into chemistry, we didn’t care
We will die, becoming part of time itself
one grain of rice, two grains of rice, in the midst of the steam we forget
© 2011, Ao Wang and Eleanor Goodman
Publisher: 2011, First published on PIW,
Publisher: 2011, First published on PIW,
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