from Nobita

Jing Xianghai

Training

Outside, a sudden rain.
But my will within is clear.
One night's snow
has melted into mist
hanging over fish meat.
(Haven't you remarked? A chopping machine
is what the age has become.)
Thus the weights.
I thought I needed discipline.
(Such a private matter, I'd tell only you.)
A dumbbell sits on my chest.
You I place in my heart.
Training is about to begin.





Gentleness

Gentleness. An endlessly rotating
microwave. The times I'm free, you're
not. The sky outside the window
like a lion's mane, coiling round a nexus.
Loneliness. A kitten tucked in a yard, afraid
to be seen... Only a deeper night, flickering
porn. Like a flower, the magnificent swell, unattainable
Bliss. I want to know there exists in this life
something more important.





Loch Ness

When it comes, what kind of
gargantuan will it be? is its soul

the one with flashing lights
its head with horns stuck on?

could you, on its neck,
take cover from rain?

when first you meet
set things straight

the cost of hesitation is
you each live on in someone else's myth

primordial wars, primordial hurts: life —
this collapsible heap

of faunae: the really big ones
          have already gone





These Chance Encounters

— so hypnotic
the howl of a faraway wind is gently quelled
an entire planet's migraine sufferers are needed to doze it off
sleepwalkers creeping along a petal
burst into debate, applause

— so heroic
one grenade takes care of almost everyone
borrow light from the fire to ask the survivors' names
often we bomb entrances, clothes, ourselves
and never get that longed-for martyrdom

— so magical
all the lake surfaces under the brume
strike an accord with us
ah! should doves scatter now from this moment's hat
should icy hail drop from this moment's sky

— so peaceful
hitting you unawares ball after ball, singling you out fatefully arrow after
                                                                                                  arrow
(no matter the palm reading, no matter the revolution, let's do it)
lying in ambush
at one corner of the imagination
how corrupt, this secret that I love you
how absolute, this secret that I love you

translated from the Chinese by Lee Yew Leong