Shen Haobo
trans. by Liang Yujing
THREE POEMS
Drinking with Officials
Tonight I got drunk
with some officials.
Tomorrow night I have to drink again
with some other officials.
My business has finally grown to a point
that I am beginning to hate myself.
Before I got drunk,
official A
said abruptly,
“In fact I particularly support the Party.”
Official B followed him,
“I particularly support the Party, too.”
Official C who was sitting next to B
hurriedly said,
“To be honest,
it’s I who genuinely support the Party.”
Before I had a chance to speak,
their six eyes all turned to me.
They burst into a loud
creepy laughter.
Cotton Factory
The girl stood under a tree
in the depths of the inn’s courtyard.
Little Ma said: Girl, raise your head.
He cupped the girl’s chin with his hand,
touched her breasts,
then said: I’ll take her.
While Little Ma was fucking indoors, Little Zhang and I
were waiting outside.
The bawd said to Little Zhang: Today I’ll charge 60 yuan.
“This is a girl from the cotton factory
who is only seventeen.”
I said: Cotton factory?
The bawd said: Besides those from the cotton factory,
I still have girls from the clothes factory, and the soy sauce factory, too.
Counting Stars
My dear,
Let’s go to the rooftop
to count stars.
One.
Two.
There should be a lot more
but we can’t
see them.
Why do stars
show up so slowly?
Just like your buttons.
One.
Two.
When can I
undo them all?
Shen Haobo, born in 1976, is considered one of the most controversial voices among the new generation of Chinese poets for being both wickedly erotic and politically satirical in his poetry. As the leading poet of the Lower Body group, he is the author of five poetry collections.
Liang Yujing grew up in China and is currently a PhD candidate at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He is the Chinese translator of Best New Zealand Poems 2014 (Wai-te-ata Press) and the English translator of Zero Distance: New Poetry from China (Tinfish Press).