CHUN SHU

FOUR POEMS

translated by Bernie Feng

Running Red Boy With the Broken Mind

On this cool summer night
All seemed clear, empty, shining
Diamond shards glinting in the light
A boy is running in silence, clutching his stomach
There’s blood flowing
Dripping down
Into the cracks of the ground where it turns a muddy brown
I want to cry while running
Running to the horizon running to the sea
The stage sounding with dreams forever unrealised
The little arms of the boy gleaming
You’re living in the glorious capital
A place of revolution, wisdom, decay
Please don’t look at me
I can no longer stand that pure light 
I’ll dig my eyes out and give them to you
Crush them with your shoes

A Summertime Teenage Murder on Chang’an Avenue

I never wanted to kill anyone
Nor did I want to be killed by anyone
Studies have shown
That the one who hates you the most is not the one who finally kills you 
Perhaps I thought that 
I would do the deed myself
Chang’an Avenue is a good place
To die
When Xiao Xu and I are walking there
I could accept him killing me by accident
To hold fast to happier times
That feeling
Doesn’t make me shudder one bit

Sitting in the Park

We’re sitting in the park
A hot night
The West Third Ring
After speaking awhile
A silence fell over us
At that moment I felt my insides violently churning
My heart pounding violently
I had regrets—
Why did I want to understand a stranger
Why did I ask him out for coffee?
Why have I forgotten that understanding someone is dangerous
Why do I act like a child, leaping at the sight of sweets
But most importantly
Why am I sitting here
With a complete stranger at my side
What am I even doing
“Have you noticed? Time has stopped again.”
“I noticed. We’re like two insects, encased in amber.”
We resumed our silence
What to do about the next moment
On this summer night
We’re sitting in the park

Untitled Poems

1

The last few days have been seared into my mind
Playing like a film
If only it were a film
I could hit “pause” whenever 
“Rewind”
“Pause”

2

At what moment did I discover my ignorance?
At times, I feel humiliated
Not enough to be maddening
Just right before the words come out 
I can already feel a change in the room
I trust my sixth sense

3

I will always be seduced by certain moods
Noticing only a few days later
I like to analyse, to compare the differences in moments
Impressions of time fascinate me
Like my daily dreams
All repeating the same contents
Red, black
King of Fighters ’98
I am enamoured by these words
These names

4

I think the only thing I can do is to get up
And polish my pearls on the hotel bed
This is the only
Sensible thing to do
At the moment