Xia Fang

  

Xia Fang is a bilingual poet and translator. She has published two collections of translated poems, and has since begun writing her own poetry. Her poems have appeared in The Postcolonial Text, Mascara, Mānoa, Marathon, and two online writing projects: Project 365+1 and Project 52. Her early written work was influenced by new life experiences, including relocating to Macao where she completed her PhD in literary studies in 2019. She has since moved to Mainland China and is currently a Lecturer at the College of International Studies, University of Yangzhou.

Here are two poems and their Chinese counterparts selected from her poetry collection A View of the Sky Tunnel (Flying Islands 2017)

 

underground

 

what I like about the underground

is its urbanization

 

what I like about urbanization

is the free entry we get to the museum

 

what I like about museums is their all-inclusive greatness

what I like about greatness is the ant-like collectivism

 

what I like about collectivism

is the way people rush to a destination

 

under ground

in the prime of its life- a Macao portrait

 

the devil’s ivy potted --

bright green foliage

climbs a pale green wall

 

the rusty phonograph

struggles remembering

yesterday’s songs

 

the rocking chair tells

five centuries’ stories

 

the wind sweeps over

a pond of pink lotuses

(eternal beauties to the Portuguese

who sojourned here)

 

the teenagers sit by a marble railing

the photographer waits, with utmost patience

for the perfect moment to take

something in black and white

 

地下鐵

 

我喜歡地下鐵

是因為它的城市化

 

我喜歡城市化

是因為免費入場的博物館

 

我喜歡博物館

是因為包羅萬象的偉大

 

我喜歡偉大這個詞

它讓我想到如螞蟻般的集體主義

當我想到集體主義

 

我想到的是為了趕往一個目的地

人們匆匆忙忙搭乘地下鐵

 

繁盛之時

 

一張搖椅晃悠悠

依然講述著五個世紀以前的故事

葡萄牙人的留聲機部件完整

卻無法播出昨日的歌曲

 

一盆吊蘭照亮淡綠色的牆

濃鬱的綠色

從容的生長

濕地邊粉荷綻放

表達著東方女人的含蓄之美

不知曾讓多少葡國漂泊客也心生眷顧

 

漢白玉柵欄上

坐著一排風化正茂的少年

攝影師站在臺階下

耐心等待一個完美瞬間

拍攝一張黑白張片