Translated by Ouyang Yu

several times i had gone past that stop by bus
just in a flash each time
and then that day two policewomen came from the
stopsign. they went past me and sat down in the row of seats behind me, in silence, talking in a low voice. and the place where they had been sitting had something lingering, loving.
what was the life a policewoman like?
on my way, i turned my head back twice and saw the smooth hands, two none-too-fashionable bags and unpowdered youth. one of them took a sharp look at me possibly because she had recognized the motive of a potential criminal in me before i even recognised it myself.
at the head of a lane not far from the stop where they had got on the bus, i saw the stopsign written on the wall of the factory with chalk: 'Tianjin Women's Prison' and, side by side with it, was a work unit called 'Junvenile Delinquents Reform Station.'
each time the bus flies all the way.
it went just like that on that occasion.
subsequently, whenever i go past that stop, i will at once realize that there is a prison ahead of me.

Xu Jiang (b 1967) is a Tianjin based poet who edits Kui, a Chinese poetry journal and has had several books of poetry published, including wo xie shi (I Look Askance) in 1999.