translated by Nicholas Wong
BACK OF A STATUE
translated from the Taiwanese Mandarin
1
The window by my writing desk looks out on
The back of a statue:
A fountain that has dried up for years
Erects there
Because of the drought, his pose appears lifeless, lacking
The kind of escape and adapting moves in wrestling games
But the water and schools of fish keep cheering, raising
Him from the plinth. He doesn’t act
As if nobody else counts, nor is he
Too absorbed in the immediate carnal drama
He poises himself
Like he has made every effort
To reach there on his own
2
He is not moving on the pedestal
Like a statue
His thoughts keep trailing toward
An invisible mountain. A face’s silhouette
Is cars parked next to a checkpoint
But it doesn’t mean
He chooses, like a cicada, to shed his body—
An afterimage that refuses to recede—
In the future, likely the next moment
He will return, holding
A rival’s head. He
Looks inward
For someone
Who is equally handsome, boyish, and strong
They will meet at the badlands
And survey each other by the smell like dogs
It will become clear
Whose head will be taken
Before nightfall
雕像的背面
1
從我寫作的窗子
能看見一座雕像的背面：
噴泉乾涸多年
站在那裡
他的姿勢因此欠缺某種活力某種
摔角遊戲的阻擋與順應
而水流與魚群會歡呼將他
從底部抬升。他沒有
這種旁若無人，以及
過分強調當下的戲劇的色情
他站在那裡
就像憑一己之力
攀登到那裡。
2
高台上，他動也不動
像一座雕像
心神卻繼續前往
一座看不見的山頭。輪廓
是檢查站旁停放的車輛
但不意味
他選擇放棄蟬蛻般的身體
一道拒絕消失的殘影——
未來，也許就是下一刻
他會回來並且
提著敵人的頭回來。他
進入自我的心靈
搜尋一個
同樣俊美同樣年輕同樣壯碩
的青年
約定在惡地見面
像狗，從氣味判別彼此
當下就明瞭
誰在日落之前
會提走誰的頭顱。
—————
Chen Poyu has won numerous literary prizes in Taiwan, including the Lin Rong San Poetry Award and China Times Literary Award. He is the author of The Bubbles Maker (essays), and two poetry collections, mini me, and recently, The Art of Rivalry. His Chinese translation of Robert Hass’ Summer Snow was published in 2022. He currently lives in Taipei.
Nicholas Wong is a poet, translator and visual artist from Hong Kong. He is the author of Crevasse, winner of the Lambda Literary Awards in Gay Poetry, and Besiege Me, also a Lammy finalist in the same category. His recent poems and translations can be found in Georgia Review, Epiphany, fourteen poems, Massachusetts Review, and Griffith Review