Translated by Gu Yiwei and Cassandra Atherton
Death, is another child, with a thin face
Occasionally he comes to play with me, knocks three times,
moderate and regular, forming a habit
Like the scar on his forehead that is uncovered
when he takes off his hat—
It’s a strange mark burnt by Mars, he says
He doesn’t blame his father who smoked every day in clouds
and swam in alcohol, who was old, tied to the post
nor his mother who sat and sighed
at her dresser. His home was in the depths of the flax field across the lake
Unexpectedly, I have never really been there to have a look
(I have headed towards there several times, but returned
Before arriving) or to see the antique furnishings
he described, kept in their proper positions
Sometimes when I am not yet up, he lies prone in the sleeping bag
looking at me; sometimes when I happen to be
drinking milk in the kitchen
there are feathers floating in from the window, something to speak of
He always collects quaint baubles such as
a silent bird, a doddery horse which cannot be ridden,
Some canned fish that aren’t fresh, he probably loved these things
covered in moss in the shade, not heliophilous,
he did not expect them to grow into feral shapes
Before leaving, mum always warned, ‘You have to be home before the sun sets.’
Then we rushed across the front hall
Across some sporadic puddles, and arrived at
The reeds where discarded barges were moored, so
that was how one puddle joined another
You took off your hat to show me your scar
You even took a cat out of your arms, saying it was magic
Out of admiration, and of self-esteem, I said
This is nothing surprising, once I even held a
Colourful tiger in my arms, and let it go
with my hands. Just now a wild francolin flies over head
and you go chasing the luminous curve
As if you love falling, you run like
the rising tide, puddles gradually swallowing up the reed field
It disappears, like an innocent beach gobbled up by the waves
Coming back empty-handed, you spread out your hands, shadowed with sorrow,
‘People always talk about going somewhere far away to dance, but they
Never know where to go, or sometimes go too far,
Forgetting to come back home.’ At times like this, it means goodbye
I look at the puddles, the lake that has formed
The flaming clouds over it, and his home
He said it was only another mark, the same as the one
On his forehead. Then I stepped and splashed about here and there
Strolled back home alone, while my young solitary playmate
Always ran in the opposite direction.
- 115: SPACE
with A Sometimes
114: NO THEME 13
with J Toledo & C Tse
113: INVISIBLE WALLS
with A Walker & D Disney
112: TREAT
with T Dearborn
111: BABY
with S Deo & L Ferney
110: POP!
with Z Frost & B Jessen
109: NO THEME 12
with C Maling & N Rhook
108: DEDICATION
with L Patterson & L Garcia-Dolnik
107: LIMINAL
with B Li
106: OPEN
with C Lowe & J Langdon
105: NO THEME 11
with E Grills & E Stewart
104: KIN
with E Shiosaki
103: AMBLE
with E Gomez and S Gory
102: GAME
with R Green and J Maxwell
101: NO THEME 10
with J Kinsella and J Leanne
100: BROWNFACE
with W S Dunn
99: SINGAPORE
with J Ip and A Pang
97 & 98: PROPAGANDA
with M Breeze and S Groth
96: NO THEME IX
with M Gill and J Thayil
95: EARTH
with M Takolander
94: BAYT
with Z Hashem Beck
93: PEACH
with L Van, G Mouratidis, L Toong
92: NO THEME VIII
with C Gaskin
91: MONSTER
with N Curnow
90: AFRICAN DIASPORA
with S Umar
89: DOMESTIC
with N Harkin
88: TRANSQUEER
with S Barnes and Q Eades
87: DIFFICULT
with O Schwartz & H Isemonger
86: NO THEME VII
with L Gorton
85: PHILIPPINES
with Mookie L and S Lua
84: SUBURBIA
with L Brown and N O'Reilly
83: MATHEMATICS
with F Hile
82: LAND
with J Stuart and J Gibian
81: NEW CARIBBEAN
with V Lucien
80: NO THEME VI
with J Beveridge
57.1: EKPHRASTIC
with C Atherton and P Hetherington
57: CONFESSION
with K Glastonbury
56: EXPLODE
with D Disney
55.1: DALIT / INDIGENOUS
with M Chakraborty and K MacCarter
55: FUTURE MACHINES
with Bella Li
54: NO THEME V
with F Wright and O Sakr
53.0: THE END
with P Brown
52.0: TOIL
with C Jenkins
51.1: UMAMI
with L Davies and Lifted Brow
51.0: TRANSTASMAN
with B Cassidy
50.0: NO THEME IV
with J Tranter
49.1: A BRITISH / IRISH
with M Hall and S Seita
49.0: OBSOLETE
with T Ryan
48.1: CANADA
with K MacCarter and S Rhodes
48.0: CONSTRAINT
with C Wakeling
47.0: COLLABORATION
with L Armand and H Lambert
46.1: MELBOURNE
with M Farrell
46.0: NO THEME III
with F Plunkett
45.0: SILENCE
with J Owen
44.0: GONDWANALAND
with D Motion
43.1: PUMPKIN
with K MacCarter
43.0: MASQUE
with A Vickery
42.0: NO THEME II
with G Ryan
41.1: RATBAGGERY
with D Hose
41.0: TRANSPACIFIC
with J Rowe and M Nardone
40.1: INDONESIA
with K MacCarter
40.0: INTERLOCUTOR
with L Hart
39.1: GIBBERBIRD
with S Gory
39.0: JACKPOT!
with S Wagan Watson
38.0: SYDNEY
with A Lorange
37.1: NEBRASKA
with S Whalen
37.0: NO THEME!
with A Wearne
36.0: ELECTRONICA
with J Jones