The Changing Room: Selected poetry of Zhai Yongming

Bidis

162 毕利烟 西川递给我一支毕利烟 十年前他抽过的毕利烟 毕利烟不是莫合烟 但如同莫合烟的味道一样 充满低层人民的性感 诗人们抽着毕利烟 想像这是贪民窟的味道 实际上 我们住在使馆区 窗外绿茵如织 绿孔雀踱步 乌鸦大而黑 扑向讨论圆桌上的 “乌鸦嘴” 我们感到羞愧 不只是写作苍白 不只是用印度语 泰语 中国语或孟加拉语 不只是讨论宗教问题 民族国家问题 如此多的问题不断被翻译 就像毕利烟不断被不同阶层的人 叼起、抽着、吸进 最后吐出來 一圈一圈去政治化的本土味道 163 BIDIs Xi chuan hands me a bidi the same kind of cigarette he smoked ten years ago Bidis aren’t Xinjiang tobacco but they taste just like it recalling a low-class sexiness the poets smoke bidis imagining this is the smell of poor people’s shacks in fact we’re staying in the diplomatic quarter with views of lush, verdant grounds green peacocks pacing huge, black crows flapping towards the round conference table and our magpie-like chattering We’re ashamed not only because our writing is pallid not only because everyone is speaking hindi thai chinese or Bengali not only because we’re discussing religion & nationalism So many questions, all constantly being translated while people from all walks of life are picking up bidis taking a drag, inhaling finally exhaling ring by ring, driving away the smell of a politicized soil Xi Chuan (b. 1963) is a leading contemporary poet in China. he was a member of the delegation that Zhai traveled with to india. Bidis are a kind of cheap cigarette popular among india’s poor. They are made of N. rustica rather than the less potent N. tabacum, which is most commonly used in cigarettes. Thank you to the editors who published earlier versions of these poems in the following journals and anthologies: “Desire”: Chicago Review Volume 39, nos. 3 & 4 “the Black room”: The Temple, (1999) Vol. 3, #2 “Premonition” and “revolving”: The Temple, (1999) Vol. 3, #4 “Daylight Slumbers”and “the green room”: hayden’s Ferry Review 41 “For Women Poets”and “natural enemies”: Twentieth-Century Chinese Women’s Poetry: An Anthology, Julia Lin, ed. (m.e. Sharpe, 2009) “the Black room” (revised version): Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle east, Asia, and Beyond, tina chang, natalie handal, ravi Shankar eds. (norton, 2008) “For Women Poets”, “hypnosis”, “natural enemies”, “the Submarine’s Lament”, and “the Song of Lady time” (“the Song of historical Beauties”): Full Tilt #3 “Fireworks and Working girls”, “Straw”, “hypnosis”, “my Younger Brother in the Water”, “my Bat”, “in the end i come Up Short”, and “eros”: Zoland Poetry no. 3 “Desire”and “monologue”: The Frontier Tide (marke, Belgium: Point editions, 2009) “mother” and “Lightly Wounded People, gravely Wounded city”: The other voice: international Poetry Nights in hong Kong, gilbert c.F. Fong, Bei Dao, Shelby K.Y. chan, ed. (the chinese University Press, 2009). “mother” and “Lightly injured People, gravely Wounded city”: NeA/ Copper Canyon (2011) “the changing room”, “reading the news”, “chrysanthemum Lanterns go Floating By”, and “the Language of the Fifties”: Mantis, Josh edwards, ed. (2011) “abandoned house”, “climbing the heights on the Double ninth”, “i’m Drunk and You’re Dry”, “the Fifth month” and “the testament of hu huishan” Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, (July 2011) Jintian Series of Contemporary Literature Published Titles Flash Cards Edited and Translated by Yu Jian, Wang Ping & Ron Padgett Upcoming Titles A Phone Call from Dalian By Han Dong Edited and Translated from Chinese by Nicky Harman, with Contributions from Maghiel van Crevel, Michael Day, Tao Naikan, Tony Prince, and Yu Yan Chen Introduction by Maghiel van Crevel Doubled Shadows By Ouyang Jianghe Translated from Chinese by Austin Woerner ChangingCU2110.indd 4 20/10/2011 3:24 PM ...