Poetry / September 2016 (Issue 33)


Anti-love Poem for the Twenty-first Century

by Un Sio San and translated from the Chinese by Jeremy Tiang

給二十一世紀的無情詩

這將是一個大刀闊斧的時代
需要紙巾來擦拭,所以我寫下一首詩

在理性的下午
我到處叩門,心中的荒原高價待沽

連蝙蝠都佯裝流星
在新潮中,愛是殘舊的盆景

在嗜血的二十一世紀
我只想學好普通話,做一個普通人


ANTI-LOVE POEM FOR THE TWENTIETH-FIRST CENTURY
 
In this age of bold gestures the falling axe
Requires a cleansing Kleenex—so I've written a poem

On a rational afternoon
I run around knocking on doors, hawking my wasteland heart to the highest bidder

Even the bats pretend to be shooting stars
In this new era, love is a forlorn diorama

In this bloodsucking twenty-first century
I want only to learn Mandarin, the common tongue, and become a common person.
 
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