Poem
Chen Kehua
A Dream of One Fine Day
a day eclipsed by cloudseveral times you struggle out of bed
to check the thermometer held hostage
out on the balcony
before sleeping your way back into dream’s nest
reality turns into an enormous bird and flaps away
leaving consciousness behind
a solitary consciousness
absorbed in the one-man show you act and direct
on your pillow
while at the same time, you are your audience
amazed at the life you rearrange and reorganize
saying: I alone am still myself . . .
yes, and when you stand at last out on your
balcony
the cold of the whole North Pole attacks your gut
and you are like a probe measuring loneliness
planted askew in this shivering planet
but still you insist on possessing intact a fine
winter’s day
although this
is, in fact, nothing more than the hatching
of your first winter’s dream . . .
1997
© Translation: 2001, Simon Patton
First published in Renditions No. 58 (Autumn 2002), pp. 143-4.
Reprinted by permission of the Research Centre for Translation
of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
A DREAM OF ONE FINE DAY
© 1997, Chen Kehua
From: Engaging in a Complicated Poetry for the Sake of
Publisher: Tansuo wenhua, Taipei
From: Engaging in a Complicated Poetry for the Sake of
Publisher: Tansuo wenhua, Taipei
Poems
Poems of Chen Kehua
Close
A Dream of One Fine Day
a day eclipsed by cloudseveral times you struggle out of bed
to check the thermometer held hostage
out on the balcony
before sleeping your way back into dream’s nest
reality turns into an enormous bird and flaps away
leaving consciousness behind
a solitary consciousness
absorbed in the one-man show you act and direct
on your pillow
while at the same time, you are your audience
amazed at the life you rearrange and reorganize
saying: I alone am still myself . . .
yes, and when you stand at last out on your
balcony
the cold of the whole North Pole attacks your gut
and you are like a probe measuring loneliness
planted askew in this shivering planet
but still you insist on possessing intact a fine
winter’s day
although this
is, in fact, nothing more than the hatching
of your first winter’s dream . . .
1997
© 2001, Simon Patton
From: Engaging in a Complicated Poetry for the Sake of
From: Engaging in a Complicated Poetry for the Sake of
A Dream of One Fine Day
a day eclipsed by cloudseveral times you struggle out of bed
to check the thermometer held hostage
out on the balcony
before sleeping your way back into dream’s nest
reality turns into an enormous bird and flaps away
leaving consciousness behind
a solitary consciousness
absorbed in the one-man show you act and direct
on your pillow
while at the same time, you are your audience
amazed at the life you rearrange and reorganize
saying: I alone am still myself . . .
yes, and when you stand at last out on your
balcony
the cold of the whole North Pole attacks your gut
and you are like a probe measuring loneliness
planted askew in this shivering planet
but still you insist on possessing intact a fine
winter’s day
although this
is, in fact, nothing more than the hatching
of your first winter’s dream . . .
1997
© 2001, Simon Patton
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