Endings

1.
Days without shore
The sea doesn’t mind
A mildly flirtatious boat 

2.
In the middle of an island
Choreographed light 
Ignores your lifebuoy

3.
A futile sailor
Indicate with dotted lines
His dizzying home on the land

4.
An inaccessible lilac
I retreat to
The tired dark 

5.
Accept people cutting in line
But don’t buy a ticket
What a low-cost withdrawal

6.
The dock echoes:
I’m still waiting
For you to tear me apart

7.
An unfamiliar god
Saves a little luck for us
Out of kindness

8.
Park your body precisely within the grid
Turn off the engine
Use a little porn before bed

9.
“Out of printing range”
“I understand and I wish to continue”

10.
A fabricated route 
Is crammed
With people who stay out of dreams

11.
We’re alive
We listen to the rain crush the night
And sleep on the cracks

12.
Their kiss
Shakes the late sleeping house
As if waking me up to witness it

13.
I’m a puddle of my own wet dream
The day before the alarm clock’s trial
Stuck between some clothes and a heart

14.
Respect lines that aren’t straight
They too had a life they wanted
To promise most

15.
Your fox mask
Hides my frog
Let’s trade under a cherry blossom tree

16.
An old groan
Caught in mouth
A ghost-saver

17.
The dead keep singing
Vinegar of sounds
Pickles again the parched days

18.
Move forward with a masked face
To seek another person
Says the funeral procession

19.
A fuzzy higher pitch
Replaces an empty well 
Deep inside an ear

20.
Dwellers on eyeballs
Accept the ramp’s invitation
To wipe out the fireworks

21.
I walk through the branches
To where the stars are splendid
I’m the majority excluded by the majority

22.
Upon a brief dismissal
A person who is forced to stand still
Asks for meaning

23.
A spire pretends to erect on a sunny day 
Practices acupuncture on the whole mountain
The clouds feel the pulse of the sky

24.
This afternoon, sorrow and shoes conspire
In their arms, a lamb:
Veined paper that looks like a rippled lake

25.
Thick fog guarantees a battlefield
Deflecting doves 
Dusk adds new possibilities 

26.
A bit of guilt is necessary
Like the ventricles that don’t explain the blue
Before it gets dark

27.
Half-open the curtain
To expose the naked apple 
In pain

28.
Step into a river
Cook a crane
The water keeps washing away my letters

29.
Let’s talk, while doing a handstand
Look for the flowers by looking at the fruits

30.
An inseparable lake
The mellow hypnotic rain
Sails towards you
 

一時停止 translated from the Taiwanese Mandarin by Nicholas Wong

1
無岸的日子
有船輕微誘惑
海無所謂

2
在島中間
光的舞蹈
漠視你的救生圈

3
徒勞的水手
用虛線指認陸地上
暈眩的住所

4
那種紫色是我無法獲得的
退而求助於
疲憊的暗

5
接受插隊
拒絕買票
成為一種較便宜的離開

6
碼頭回音:
我還在等待
你把我撕壞

7
陌生的神
好心為我們
保存少數的幸運

8
把身體泊進正確方格
引擎熄火
睡前使用一點色情

9
「超出列印範圍」
「我了解而且我要繼續」

10
杜撰的航道
擠滿了
夢的外人

11
我們活著
聽雨聲敲碎夜晚
在裂痕上睡覺

12
他們的吻
震動遲睡的屋子
要我起身作證

13
我是一灘自己的夢遺
鬧鐘審判前夕
坐困衣與心之間

14
尊重不直的線
也曾有最想承諾的
一種人生

15
你的狐狸面具
藏著我的青蛙
在櫻花樹下交換吧

16
老舊的呻吟
被嘴巴含住
鬼魂的保護程式

17
死去的人持續唱歌
聲音的醋
一再漬著無水分的日子

18
蒙臉前進
尋求另一人
成為葬列

19
模糊的較高音
取代耳朵深處
懸空的井

20
眼球的居住者
接受坡道邀請
擦拭煙火

21
我穿過樹椏
直到星星燦爛之處
我是大多數所排除的大多數

22
解散的瞬間
被迫站立原地的人
要求意義

23
假裝晴朗的尖塔
針灸整座山
雲為天空把脈

24
憂傷和鞋子合作的下午
懷中有小羊:
縐的湖水紙

25
濃霧提供戰場
鴿子傾向轉向
黃昏增添可能

26
需要一點愧疚感
像心室淪為黑夜前
不解釋的藍

27
掀開一半的窗帘
讓痛苦的蘋果
裸露出來

28
踏在河上
煮一隻鶴
水一直帶走我的信

29
讓我們倒立說話
從結果開始看花

30
離不開的湖面
雨小聲催眠
朝著你航行

Sun Tzu-ping

Born in 1976 in Taiwan, Sun Tzu-ping graduated from the Graduate Institute of Creative Writing and English Literature at National Dong Hwa University. He is currently an editor at the Liberty Times. Chinese titles by Sun include Knowing Shadows (essays), Sentimentalist (poetry) and Male Bodies (novel), among others.

Nicholas Wong

Nicholas Wong is a poet, translator and visual artist from Hong Kong. He is the author of Crevasse, winner of the Lambda Literary Awards in Gay Poetry, and Besiege Me, also a Lammy finalist in the same category. His poems and translations are forthcoming in The Georgia Review, Five Points, American Poetry Review, among others. He is an International Writing Program resident at the University of Iowa in 2024, and currently teaches at the Education University of Hong Kong.

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