Translated by Ouyang Yu
in 1967
my dad went to an alien place
to begin his middle school career
every weekend
my dad managed to get home
and bring from home
things
to eat
salted vegetables and dry carrots
or pickled cucumbers
to prevent
his roommates from stealing them
my dad
had a sound strategy
every time he opened his food
he'd first spit into it
a few mouthfuls of saliva
Shen Haobo is a Chinese poet based in Beijing who is often described as the leader of the Post-1970s Poets (poets born in the 1970s) and now edits the Chinese webzine xia ban shen (Lower Parts of the Body).
About Ouyang Yu
Ouyang Yu is an award-winning poet, novelist and translator. His first novel,
The Eastern Slope Chronicle, won the 2004 South Australian Festival Award for Innovation in Writing. His third novel,
The English Class, won the 2011 NSW Premier's Award, and his 14th collection of poetry,
Terminally Poetic (2020), won the Judith Wright Calanthe Award for a Poetry Book in the 2021 Queensland Literary Awards. Recent works include the novels
All the Rivers Run South (Puncher and Wattmann, 2003) and
The Sun at Eight or Nine (Puncher and Wattmann, 2025), and the collection of short stories
The White Cockatoo Flower (Transit Lounge 2024).
Further reading:
