Kit Kelen #404 - the damage is already done

404

the damage is already done

the damage is love

and that's how we're here

to touch

is just to be with

isn't a moon

to bless beside?

aren't the stars

to wish?

a voice is such

it's not what's said

dark in the well of dreams

we bide

all under words

at swim

and whiff of waking with

not a word

the healing's here

let me hold you

let me be held

love is the damage

that's how we're here

wonders are working

with us again

first of day brings to light

then you see the damage

isn't the world shone so?

trace a scar

where the highway went

the damage is already done

dreams had to be the healing

there's no stillness proof against

morning so the music plays

limbs are lithe to it

a reaching out, a simple stretch

how naked you will be then

love is the collateral

when once upon the writhing time

are there conditions?

something missing in my education

here and there winter got in

in summer we caught fire

the hour is passing where we dwell

how is it then we mean at all?

if time turned tail

ran up itself

but who does that?

the numbness is extremity

and all between the ears

crook in the neck

back wracked lying

under covers cuddles give

into shoulder snuggle

hush as in some antique song

you mustn't say my name

then I will have no century

no nation can be mine

let's for a moment

go without saying

the damage is already done

love is the damage we do

Rob Schackne #241 - "I don't know kitchen chefs"

I don't know kitchen chefs
I don't know the pastry chefs
I hardly know myself at all
I clearly eat when I'm filmed
(I will present my best side)
I had a black cat and a library
I had a nervous wife and a life
I'm a writer and a luckless fighter
I grew up late using my words
I get up early and self-pollinate
I throw all my bets out wide
I see a sail against a blue sky
I am spinning with the spirits
I want to rearrange myself
I look for any number of signs

Cui Yuwei 30#--"Story"

Cui Yuwei 30#--"Story"

Story

Written and self-translated into Chinese by Cui Yuwei

he tipped her a wink through the crowd

and they left the dining table

unobtrusively

outside he stroked her plait

telling he would go and get her some sweets

in the shop

she skipped along at his side

until they reached a brick toilet

50 metres behind grandpa’s house

face to her, he crouched down

and said, good girl

he cupped the back of her head with one hand

the other pried open her shell-like teeth

to help his fat tongue probe inside

and twirl around...

after that

she slouched back, head bent

as if having made a mistake

he joined the feast with ease

while she closed herself in the bedroom

mounted on grandma’s rattan chair

tears silently trailed down her cheeks

she was not sure why she felt like crying

for the rag doll she lost

for the sweets she never got

《戀童癖》

他悄悄給她使了個眼色

兩人神不知鬼不覺地退出

熱鬧的家宴

他撫著她的小辮說

帶她去買糖

她一蹦一跳

隨他來到屋後五十米外的

磚砌公共廁所

他在她面前蹲下說

乖

接著用左手托住她的後腦勺

右手撬開她的兩排貝齒

肥厚的舌頭探入

上下翻攪

事畢

她悶聲垂頭走回屋

像犯了天大的錯

他再次加入宴席

若無其事

她默默把自己關進奶奶的房間

爬上舊籐椅

呆呆看著晨昏不明的窗外

淚流不止

她不知道自己為什麼哭了

像是為了丟失的布娃娃

像是為了沒有兌現的糖

Kit Kelen #403 - we go there

403

we go there

we go into the fog

we're home there

we top the list of the missing

then the list is lost

we're mist

and in the sky's blue after

there's no we to see

Cui Yuwei 29#--"in early autumn, grey"

Cui Yuwei 29#--"in early autumn, grey"

in early autumn, grey

Written and self-translated into Chinese by Cui Yuwei

hear crickets

beyond the window

see the dawn shadow

of who-knows-what?

《初秋，灰白》

窗外

蟋蟀鳴叫

那一片灰白

可是黎明的影子？

Béatrice Machet # 351 "Suntrust"

# 351      « Suntrust » (just for fun !)

it reads classic

it shows orange beams

suggesting some sun warmth

with name and numbers

that don’t measure your wealth but

somehow indicate an acknowledgment

to having an identity

it reads debit

it’s a MasterCard

with which I’ll be allowed to purchase

under scrutiny

all kinds of sunny items

on lit classique

on voit des rayons oranges

qui suggèrent la chaleur du soleil

un nom et des nombres qui

ne mesurent pas l’état de votre richesse mias

somme toute indiquent la reconnaissance

d’une identité

on lit débit

c’est une Mastercard

grâce à laquelle on me permet

d’acheter sous surveillance

toutes sortes d’articles ensoleillés

Rob Schackne #240 - "What's not to have in common" (Roadkill Coda)

What’s not to have in common
a few dawns, a few sunsets
some horrors that won’t be mentioned
the trees that were uprooted
the plans that went awry
some magic that got spilled
(let us count the ways)

we have our good selves
in better common than our bad
remember that
what’s not to have in common
the blank sheet and the silence
the bad poem and the scream
(I found a good poem at dawn)

tonight in the penumbra
the earth casts a faint shadow upon the moon
what’s not to cast
flowers at swine
chokoes at children
or outright hatred
(the poor moon)

Rob Schackne #239 - “Sit and watch the lights go blinking”

Sit and watch the lights go blinking
across the street a loud band
playing the inner city blues
the laundromat is losing coins
hot night here by pub conversation
hello to the friendly local man
selling drugs by the barrow-load
hello the woman who sells herself
oh no she says I can't sell it all
because what would I have left
I need a real job to bring my kid back
the weekly wash should be finished now
I tell you I miss the smell of trees
hello the river the wind the real sun
trying to grow cattle in arid soil
smiling open arms laughing visible
playing hello rocks the country blues
hello bloody hello all this translation

I see the girls # 67 Claine Keily

I see the little girls
come to some bright hotel
believing they have arrived
in ideal weather
for a day of sightseeing

I hold their hands
small girls
in mid December
not ideal weather
and I am thankful
that they are not
as yet
burdened
as others
with child

I see them hopeless
as dolls
with nylon hair
made only
for punitive measures

Kerri Shying R # 192 - The Pits

The Pits

I rub under my arms   there where

 the heat attracted some giant

octopus   to suckle  while I slept

 I rise and rinse away  the tender 

flakes the  mouthparts left   I dust

 with sprinkle powder   something

anti-fungal    then I try

 to stay awake  with fear   against

the long and hungry

 ribboned-maw

that monster called

 the heat wave

look here oh  it

 slouches  up the drive 

 alive

 we hide    with

 no success

reassure each other   it will leave

seek succour   cross the chest

Kit Kelen #402 - prepositional

402

prepositional

inside out me

upside down

over moon

and under table

weather too

head in cloud

down dale

and over hills away

untrousered

ten foot tall

and tail between

this is just

a little headsup

all because

you can imagine

Rob Schackne #238 - "Almost out of Roadkill"

Almost out of Roadkill
trying to hitch a ride
down by the shiny ocean
(we are invisible)
and a bar of soap
says to the duck
even though we’re both here
I wouldn’t know you
it all floats on mud you see
say what you want
about hairpin corners
but what about me
they mutter something
about oily tides
don’t come back
share it equally

Kit Kelen #401 - the singing

401

the singing

the singing from the church is nothing

wakes no god

the day pretends

beginning with light

what will we make?

voices shape

a bird, a tree

despite all efforts

everything's equal

lay me down by the running stream

in the picnic pasture

mist me in

gather the olives

fry them green

make sure there's salt

bring me something baked

will you

spread a blanket for the feast

that's there if you believe

Gulls # 66 Claine Keily

When the tedious sound
of gulls
no longer shrilled
at the sky
she unlocked her door
and visited the shop
that sold
frozen lemons
and mango flavoured beer

The car she travelled in
felt unfamiliar
so she took longer
to reach the place
where she met with her lover
in a dank little shop
amongst fish nets
pinned to roofs
and white painted
buoys that stank
of low tides

There he kissed her
his tourist camera
slung low around
his neck
filled with pictures
of every pretty girl
that had passed his way

James Walton #34 Last Seen Alive, at Canakkale

How simple in the end: to smell the vinegar of an infant’s head

this blink: how different to the beginning,

when the whole world collapses to a baby’s cry.

Know the pomegranate cheated with hibiscus flowers,

and siren ficifolia recruited by marooned stars

falling in an aureole of shell bursts

(the blue mosque unseen, the famous river past the cliché of artists,

but we couldn’t elude the haunt of gum leaves

languidly revolving in their own smell.

I wanted to be the fat magpie lolloping in the greed of water,

while silver eyes so jealously wait their turn)

Crusader’s foolish pose of vigil down on Dardanelles steps

sighted by Hellespont drowning, this slow ebb of nationality

is more than alien imperial tales adjudicating the division of souls.

Sand absorbs the running of memory those ripple lines of being,

lapping anthems to the billeting stanza

(so near that silly point my fingertips could touch you my enemy

our embarking coronas entwined like lovers,

now that we understand all the secrets

who ever thought of the stop over pyramids

and these trenches in such willing stupidity)

There is space in my sigh for us all.

Too scarce now to want to be visible,

sear my heart into the banksia - my old nose the wasted cone

that stubs the unwary toe.

Our sun had always wanted me a familiar smudge in any landscape,

captured in stained glass federation

the cuckoo shrike shatters the gargoyles,

breaches all callistemon flying buttresses

(I know your name, I know your name).

Guidebooks # 65 Claine Keily

Even the chore
of buying milk
at a local store
is hard for her
there is no one
to talk to
and nothing
is going as planned
or the way the
guidebooks informed her
and yet she plans
to travel further still
study even at
university
rather than to
continue to pace
these corridors alone

Claine Keily's "Glass Unbroken" translated into Chinese by Cui Yuwei

Glass Unbroken

Written by Claine Keily

Translated into Chinese by Cui Yuwei

It is hard to
remember to
chronicle the easier times
when the ponds
were full of fish
and the windows
were made of
glass unbroken

Now she chews
through her pain
and forgets
she ever tasted a life
where she
trespassed borders
with shiny bracelets
about her
ankles
and no bruises
on her knees

《完整的玻璃》

很難

記得

將容易的歲月記錄

那時魚兒

滿池

窗玻璃

完好無損

現在她嚼著

痛苦

并且忘記

她曾品味過一種生活

那時

她帶著

閃亮的腳鏈

踏入邊境

膝蓋上

也沒有淤青

Cui Yuwei # 28---"Wind"

Cui Yuwei # 28---"Wind"

Wind

Written and self-translated into Chinese by Cui Yuwei

in the gathering darkness

the world zips its lip

wind whistling

pries it open

knocks out some broken teeth

a bottle downstairs

cracks

the sound

of glass

scraping in the dark

《风》

黑暗中

世界闭上嘴

風吹著哨子

撬開它

打碎幾顆壞牙

瓶子在樓下

崩裂

碎玻璃

在黑暗中

留下

三五抓痕

Cui Yuwei #27--"The First Words"

Cui Yuwei #27--"The First Words"

The First Words

Written and self-translated into English by Cui Yuwei

pouring
no umbrella
she's in the supermarket entranceway
two big heavy bags
a long wait
expecting a call
that would never come
she lugs the bags
through the rain
onto the bus

back home
she throws them on the floor
water keeps on dripping
from her hair
she walks to the window
stays there awhile
looking at the rain

it’s been half a month now
she has counted 
no words, nothing
not even contact eye

that night
he crawls onto the bed
strips her naked
it's been half a month
the first words she hears from him

 “you’re really like a bitch!” 

《第一句話》

大雨

她沒帶傘

拎著兩個沉甸甸的塑胶袋

站在超市門口

等了很久

沒有來電

她冒雨上了公交

濕著頭髮進屋

撂下袋子

在窗邊看了會兒雨

有半個月了

她在計算

沒有話，也沒有

任何接觸

包括眼神上的

那天夜裡

他爬上床

扒下她的衣服

半個月了

她聽到的第一句話是

“你真像個婊子”