空房间

我将如走回草原的小象一样

走回你的眼睛：

我的空房间

Empty room

As a little elephant walks back to its prairie

I walk back to your eyes:

an empty room

台灯

台灯是个不会哭的小孩

当它想念月亮母亲的时候

只会悄悄关上自己。

Desk lamp

The desk lamp is a kid who does not cry,

when he misses his moon-mother,

he turns his hat down.

罐头

罐头是个随意门

拉开吞拿鱼神圣的注视后

我回到了我的猫身

Canned food

Cans are uncanny doors.

After pulling up the sacred gaze of tuna

guess who returns to her cat body.

日记

你脚下的木柴在等待着成为衣柜。

你面前的方形空白在等待它的证词。但走廊，

走廊，没有任何一个走廊能将你载回此时的走廊。

Diary

The firewood under your feet is waiting to become a wardrobe.

The square blank page in front of you is also waiting for its testimony.

But no corridor can take you back to this corridor you are standing in.

奖章

MFA的同学告诉我获奖艺术家才是真的艺术家

于是我搜集了破布，树枝和纽扣

给自己窗边的布偶做了个奖章

Medal

MFA cohort told me only prize-winning artists are real artists

So I collect rags, branches, and buttons

to make a medal for my window-watching doll.

阳台

几只斑鸠落在我家阳台上八卦

泥砍对门的阳台上，晾着一个洗干净的小哥呢，

他也有樱花般的脚，和我们一样。

Balcony

Two turtledoves sit on my balcony gossiping.

See, a little brother is hanging on the balcony across the door

He, too, has cherry blossom feet.

着装

穿上壁龛，穿上修士的脸，穿上带铃铛的鼓

穿上两团扇的雪，穿上春天给樱桃做的

穿上柔软的脚，穿上异时辰的雨

Outfit

wear the riot of frills, wear the face of friar

wear the swish from the arena, wear the twilight of cathedrals,

wear the street no one sweeps, wear fireworks, wear the war where we all died

治疗

帝国大厦正将红色的心跳从它生锈的针管

里注射进帝国疲惫的双肺：

往日乱拨街道琴弦的流浪汉消失了。

Treatment

The Empire State building is injecting red heartbeats

from its rusty needle to the tired lungs of the Empire:

The tramp who plucked the strings of the street disappeared nowhere

窗外的海鸥

你的新泽西口音有点悲伤

为何如此无聊，在我瞳孔的峡湾

为我画画，为时间刻章？

Seagull outside my window

Your New Jersey accent sounds a little sad

Why are you so dull, sitting in the fjord of my pupil

Drawing for me & stamping for the time?

前任

世界末日了，前任加回了我的Ins，

留了言，然后又消失了。前任对我的眷恋

是流亡的政权，是兔子，是躲开的水。

Ex

At the end of the world, my ex added me back on Instagram,

After dropping me a message, he disappeared again

His affection is an exiled regime: a rabbit, a drop of water to escape

鞋

如果失眠有脚的话，

什么样的鞋配的上它 ？

谢谢，下一个，失眠说。

Shoes

If insomnia has feet,

What kind of shoes can match them?

Thank you, next one, said insomnia.

窗外的树荫

如焦躁的小鸟

落进我的掌心

把命数的纹理当做美味的蚯蚓

Shadow outside the window

An anxious bird

Fall into my palm

Treat the texture of fate as its delicious earthworms.

背

当你意识到背的存在时，

背已经替代了你的腿

驼着你去看过了北方的月亮。

Back

When you realize the existence of the back,

The back has already replaced your legs

& taken you to see the North moon.

Kurzbiografie

Li, Jaoyang (China) is a Chinese poet and translator currently based in New York City. She is a graduate of Goldsmiths University of London and New York University. She writes in Chinese and English; her work has appeared in the LA Reviews of Books-China Channel, 3:AM, Voice and Verse poetry magazine and others.