Dear Reader Are You Having a Good Day?
Dear reader are you having a good day?
A well-written novel is so powerful so heartless
A well-written novel can make you cruel look on suffering as if it were nothing
Like a gaffed shark so maddened by the sight of its own blood
Pouring from a wound that it bends round and begins devouring itself
Then morphs into a symbol and a metaphor
Painful feats of every kind all manner of as-if-it-were-nothings . . .
I heard someone say that when I turned ten I gave up writing
That sure is something to set you thinking
A lousy novel can also set you thinking and then some
Of course a lousy movie can do the same
Dear reader but if you really want something to set you thinking
Surely this metaphor will do in a pinch
Like the fashion designer who explains how his 200-meter long folded crepe cloak
Took 2000 hours the total for the satin chiffon
Outfit some 3300 hours when you tally in the hand-stitched embroidering
Sometimes you have to pull the whole thing apart and start from scratch
親愛的讀者今天過得好嗎
親愛的讀者今天過得好嗎
寫得好的小說是那麼強大那麼無動於衷
寫得好的小說令人變殘忍視苦難為無物
就像被捕獲的鯊魚亢奮於自己傷口
流出的血回頭啃食自己……
隨後化為象徵和隱喻的
各種痛苦特技各種若無其事……
我聽到有人說我十歲就放棄寫作了
真是發人深省
其實寫壞的小說也是更是發人深省
壞的電影當然也是
親愛的讀者但真要說發人深省
那以下這個比喻可以湊合了嗎
服裝設計師解釋他的200公尺長的薄紗皺褶斗篷
花了他2000個小時至於緞面雪紡
衣服加上手工刺繡總時數竟高達3300小時
有時還得全數拆掉重來
Translator: Steve Bradbury’s version of Hsia Yü’s fourth collection of poetry, Salsa, will be published by Zephyr Press in early 2014. He lives in Taipei.
