Many times You have to, like a thief Go out at night and return home in the morning Sneak back to hometown on a dark late night Take out both autism and well water Squash old clothes heirloom utensils only namable in a dialect And a pair of pliers brought along back to your hometown All into a canvas backpack And then carry it alone If in the darkness right before dawn You still cannot haply escape In order to handle those strangers dwelling in the village (They all know Father) You have to await the opportunity to transfer outwards As if pulling decayed animal carcasses Your physical characteristics whereabouts And countenance as of a sneaky rat In the darkness and the rustles Of pine needles and leaves falling to the ground from an old tree Having withered since last year It is possible to remove a dry well But will the well water like a ghost Still lurk deeper than before and wait for a slumber many years later In which to keep pushing you down As an urbanite your baggage is overly heavy Before entering the city your have to stop at The highway service station for a long time Carefully wash your face look at yourself in a mirror And then tow the heavy baggage as if dragging the cadaver Of a rare animal while slinking back into the city In the early morning
Yan An is a most famous poet in contemporary China, author of fourteen poetry books including his most famous poetry book, Rock Arrangement, which has won him The Sixth Lu Xun Literary Prize, one of China’s top four literary prizes. His poetry book A Naturalist’s Manor, translated by Chen Du and Xisheng Chen, was published by Chax Press and was shortlisted for the 2022 Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize, administered by the American Literary Translators Association.
Chen Du is a voting member of the American Translators Association and an expert member of the Translators Association of China with a Master’s Degree in Biophysics from Roswell Park Cancer Institute, SUNY at Buffalo and a Master’s Degree in Radio Physics from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In the United States, her translations, poems, and essays have appeared in more than forty literary journals. Contact her at of_sea@hotmail.com.
Xisheng Chen, a Chinese American, is an ESL grammarian, lexicologist, linguist, translator and educator. His working history includes: adjunct professor at the Departments of English and Social Sciences of Trine University (formerly Tri-State University), Angola, Indiana. As a translator for over three decades, he has published many translations in various fields in newspapers and journals in China and abroad.
Chen Du's and Xisheng Chen's translation of "How to Transform Into an Urbanite" and "Spring or Blue" by Yan An and eight other poems were longlisted by the 2021 John Dryden Translation Competition.
