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Live Encounters Poetry & Writing English-Chinese Edition January 2023
Spring as Usual, poems by Chen Ming-Hua.
Spring as Usual
Sitting upright in the chair, my chin on the instrument before me, my forehead in position, I wonder whether the present has overlapped the past or overlies the future… Laser correction in 2009, left retinal adhesion in 2014, left cataract removal in 2015, right cataract removal in 2016. Between the dazzling glare and the teardrop-dripping gap, I perplexedly perceive two red lips beneath the frontal mirror murmuring,
“Confess and get leniency!”
春如旧
正襟危坐椅中,下巴放在面前仪器上,前额定位,现在重迭过去又重迭未来?激光矫正2009年,左视网膜黏合2014年,左白内障清除2015年,右白内障清除2016年……从炫目的强光和泪水间隙,我惘然看到额镜下两片红润的唇喃喃说
“坦白从宽!”
Digital Anatomy
55 pounds of AAA grade meat, 8 pints of good platelet blood, 24 premium ribs, several poems, misty shadows, unsettled soul, desire and sperm counts are very comparable
The poet has no research funds. He rationalizes himself with beef, eggs, a scale and his own body
数字解剖学
AAA级肉55磅,优质血小板血液8品脱,高级肋骨24根,诗若干,影子朦胧,灵魂飘忽,欲望和精子数量成正比。
诗人没有研究经费,以牛肉、鸡蛋、一座磅秤和自己的身体来自圆其说
Spring fever should not compete with blossoms
The tree’s mind was originally pink, but after conversion it became so colorful that it hardly appeared any difference from flowers– fallen leaves are contented to re-form the meaning of existence so sadly
Laying back is a cheery attitude to life
春心莫共花争发
树的思想原来是粉红色的,改造后却变得那么多彩,几乎与花没有距离,落叶乐得那么忧郁地重新形成存在意义
躺平是一种积极的人生态度
English translation © Anna Yin/© Chen Ming-Hua
陈铭华,祖籍广东番禺,1956年生于越南嘉定,1979年定居于美国洛杉矶。1990年偕诗友创办《新大陆》诗双月刊,任主编迄今。著有诗集《河传》、《童话世界》、《春天的游戏》、《我的複制品》及散文诗集《天梯》、《防腐剂》、《散文诗五论》、《重返地球》等。
Chen Ming-Hua, originally from Guangdong, was born in Vietnam in 1956. He settled in Los Angeles in 1979. In 1990, he and friends founded the bi-monthly poetry magazine “New World” (Chinese) and has been the editor-in-chief since then. He is the author of several poetry collections in Chinese, as well as prose poetry collections in that language.
Fabulous and fascinating! Congratulations!