1

 

your {before birth}

-

[composition / structure]

 

is painted on the bedsheet

{after birth}

-personality is

[nailed/tacked] on the wall

during birth you travel through

the longest <dark> night in the year

solely in order

to make your second birth

not so

[strenuous/difficult]

you search upwards for the breast

search downwards for footprints

during daytime [lit. when the sky is bright]

you look like your father

during nighttime [lit. when the sky is dark]

you look like your mother

 

2

 

three o’clock in the morning

you [embrace / put your arms around] a tree

because

there is no one to [embrace / put their arms around] you

they piss into Funan river

one after another

covering

the sound of vomiting in the flowerbed

some people stay behind to continue counting

the strength of the transparent liquid

when they count to fifty two

they are a little [unconscious / muddled]

they borrow liver and gall

borrow a reason for happiness

and from you borrow away

you and birthday cake

 

3

 

go to a slightly more distant place to sleep

you had relations with a ferry boat

will it result in pregnancy

they are {secreted by night

}

-hormones

you are not quite the same

there is no one making you lie down

and no pain making you bend over

you just want to sit on a

<very> steep <very> long earth slope

watching building and moonlight

slide into Jialing river

as soon as you stand up

water spills over the top of your head

 

4

 

speaking of {formerly

resided in}-cities

you [express/reveal] too much of your sorrow

sorrow is the {you use

to make a bridge}-material

you [will / want to] go to the opposite bank to spend an evening

give your body to

a non-reflective person

[next / after that]

you can with full [concentration / attention]

[treat / handle / deal with] sorrow

in the difficult-to-endure [time / moment]

suddenly understand

that town, apart from a bridge

has nothing else

 

5

 

you [are/were] running away all summer

the route of your running away

a straight line like a backbone

the bum lands right in the heart of the night city

the surface of Zhongshan Street

has a layer of scorched pastry

in just the same way is a straight line to a certain main road

a certain day in July

the degree of the interlocking between teeth

here becomes a corner

honey roasted ribs, old-friend noodles, Water Baby Desserts...

all go into

a stomach without illumination

your sense of [satiety / being full]

is sometimes because of the satisfaction of running away

is sometimes because of the padding of lamplight

 

6

 

the car takes you to

a place called Huu Lung

the national border is

gulping down floodwater behind you

between you and danger

are eight suns and

a one

-hour time difference

in the place you want to go

the clouds work

faster than in the place you left

the vehicle continues to drive south

the sky is turning dark

in the place where you cannot see clouds

you should stop

 

7

 

Hoàn Kiem Lake [lowers/releases] its waters up to the sky

you go around Hoàn Kiem Lake

you want to go up to the sky too

the water in the sky, on the contrary [lowers/releases] onto your body

you are so wet only gravity remains

there is nowhere you can go

wearing the {this country

is very proud of}

-slippers

pacing under the eaves

hard to get to [lit: enter] sleep

you think of areas further south

the water of the Mekong River

has never <yet>

soaked your clothes

 

8

 

you have an engine

plateau you do not have any more

the plateau became

as tall as you

sometimes slanted

shaking to its feet

the pine forests and Wester

n

-style homes of French guys

 

you met a Japanese man

daytime you do have not any more

you sit opposite him

he prepares food for you

every bite you take

is like hauling

endless darkness

you ignite the engine and leave

spending the whole journey thinking back

darkness truly is a delicious thing

 

9

 

the train has come

beneath the train all is [unhealthy legs / crippled legs]

it with its winding route

takes the shape of dislocation and fracture

the train keeps on coming

carrying

a shredded Milky Way

to sell to insomniacs

you sleep in a {beside the tracks }-little house

awaiting the descent of insomnia

the train has limpingly come

you exchange a pair of healthy legs

for a small square of sky

 

10

 

you insist on travelling by boat

to rescue the ears that drowned in a dream

all you scoop out is a <segment

of> distant noise

the sound is a little hunchbacked

it uses its last strength to say:

the bed has been made

the food is on the table

have received several letters

have replaced the living room

<hanging

> light

that happened to be the last day of summer

the door opened a crack

that <segment of> sound

one day at a time

straightens up

 

11

 

immediately after waking

the autumn outside the window

the silhouette has not yet appeared

the object that has appeared

is hidden within the heart

one you comes back from the depths of night

one you

crawls out from a body

two yous

squeezing into the dust, meet

without any noise

fall onto your eyelashes