2021 Pushcart Prize Nominees
Six Poems of Bing Hua
Translation by Xu Yingcai
1
A Hand Fan
One side is spring, the other autumn
You are that spring, me that autumn
Spring and autumn
A separation only a paper-thickness apart
Yet feels as if in different world corners
Spring and autumn
Often not much difference in temperature
Yet never belong
To the same season
2
Wind
Wind blows
My skirt flares
Oh, wind
Don’t say the word “LOVE” to me
It’s too light yet too heavy
For my delicate hands
To carry
3
The Peach Orchard in March
Cool drizzle
Has wet the earth somewhere
The breeze that wafts over like curtain strings
Has kept off the spring radiance of March
In just a few days, peach trees
Will be dressed up in ostentatious red
A twig of delicate fragrance
Has not yet found a tree to graft on
Wind and rain whisper to each other
But no word is mentioned about the peach orchard
When the wind comes again next month
It will ruffle the petals on the ground
Like tears, raindrops perch on the deep end of the wind
But who will pick up the petals
Each of which has recorded
The debt the wind owes
4
That Summer
That summer, I’m spruced up----
Pink dress
Bangs hanging down to the eyebrows
Short hair cut to the ears
Long eyelashes that
Curve over the two watery eyes
No application of lipsticks
Nor rouge
A pair of pink silk socks
In a pair of T-shaped sandals
I Sneak out of my home
Unnoticed, to look for him
Quietly sitting and waiting
In the alley where he might appear
He appears
I blush
And don't know what to do with my hands
And blurt out some senseless words
He is gone
Sparkling tears roll down my cheeks
Behind him
5
The Sunflower
Is a newborn baby‘s
Sweet smile in its dream
Or the flower of youth
In bud ready to bloom
---- No
It's an ancient Greek nymph
Clytie
In love with the Sun
She loves him
So her heart turns toward him
From sunrise to sunset.
She loves him
So everyday she looks up to him
Till her hair turns grey
Near or far
It's measured by light
Faithful and true
It's witnessed by Heaven and the Earth.
Van Gogh's Sunflower
Has a set value
But Clytie's
Is priceless
O
My Apollo
I love you
But conceited as I am
I can’t utter
The word love
All my love
Has gone hidden
In Van Gogh's paintings
My love
Is that of Clytie's
And Clytie's
Is
The sunflower
6
The Lotus’ Obsession
A summer lotus bud, yet to bloom
Has an obsession wrapped in its heart
Who can peel off those wrapping petals
Who can call out the wrapped heart
People not karma-bound to her
Have either rushed by too quickly
Or arrived too late
For while waiting
Her amorous heart has turned into bitter seeds
An irreversible plight
The lotus’ obsession
Remains, though her root is pocketed with holes
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