from Fourteen Fourteenliners
13 Though he said he would be waiting at the bistro at 6
Why can say passion fruit for instance always begin again
Every summer as lustrous as ever as juicy
As ever the same artful trick of many seeds or say
Peas-in-a-pod for instance or even for instance ferns? But flesh O flesh
My dearest flesh O where have you gone?
Most likely we’ve just missed each other though he said he would be
Waiting at the bistro at 6 most likely we’ve just gotten separated
When suddenly we were violently loving in the sands of time
Two low-lying Netherlands falling into ruins collapsing
In the tulip beds
I said, c’est la vie. Am of a mind to compile an index
An index of all those to-no-avails, before all the details have faded
We are so not like those silkworm cocoons that always begin again
We’re not so much as a fungal infection
而他說6點鐘在酒館旁邊等我
為什麼譬如百香果等總是可以重新開始？
每一個夏天帶著同樣的色澤同樣豐盛
的汁液同樣多子的詭辯又譬如
四季豆又甚至譬如羊齒植物。而肉體肉體
我最親愛的肉體你在哪裏？
最多就是擦身而過吧而他說6點鐘
在酒館旁邊等我最多也不外是走散了吧
但忽然我們兇猛地愛著
時間的流沙裏兩座荷蘭崩毀下陷
直到整座鬱金香的花園
我說：再見。想編一本索引
徒然的索引，在全部細節消失以前
我們不能像繭一樣地重新開始
我們甚至不能像癬
Translated by Steve Bradbury’s translation of Hsia Yü’s Salsa collection was recently published by Zephyr Press. He lives in northern Florida near the Ichetucknee Springs.
