Winter 2007
 
 

CONTENTS

 
  AUNT ICE, AUNT SNOW— in memory of two beauties in the Water family 冰姑,雪姨——
懷念水家的兩位美人

   By YU Kwang-chung 余光中
   Translated by the poet
 
  SEASIDE WASTELAND 海濱荒地
   BY CHEN I-chih 陳義芝
   Translated by John J. S. BALCOM 陶忘機
 
  DESOLATION 悲涼
   BY Hsiao Hsiao 蕭蕭
   Translated by John J. S. BALCOM 陶忘機
 
  FORTUNE AJAR 緣無緣
   BY Hsiao Hsiao 蕭蕭
   Translated by Zona Yi-Ping TSOU 鄒怡平
 
  SOUND CHANGE IN TAIPEI 音變台北
   BY Chen Tien 陳填
   Translated by Shou-Fang HU-MOORE 胡守芳
 
  RELUCTANT TO WAKE UP 捨不得醒來
   BY Chen Tien 陳填
   Translated by Shou-Fang HU-MOORE 胡守芳
 
  TURTLE PEOPLE 烏龜族
   By WU Chin-fa 吳錦發
   Translated by Mark I. HAMMONS 何邁
 
  BUTTERFLY PSYCHIC 有請蝶仙
   By Ah Sheng 阿盛
   Translated by Darryl STERK 石岱崙
 
  THE PARTY GIRL 酒會的女人
   By LIN Tai Man 林黛嫚
   Translated by David van der Peet 范德培
 
  NATIVIST CHARM IN THE COLOR-INK PAINTINGS OF CHUANG PO-HSIEN 莊伯顯的台灣鄉土彩墨畫
By Carlos G. TEE 鄭永康
 
  NEWS & EVENTS 文化活動
   Compiled by Sarah Jen-hui HSIANG 項人慧
 
  NEW BOOKS BY OUR MEMBERS 會員新書
 
  NOTES ON AUTHORS AND TRANSLATORS
作者與譯者簡介
 
  APPENDIX : CHINESE ORIGINALS 附錄 :中文原著
 
  GODDESS MATSU ON PROCESSION
台灣媽祖出巡,
gouache on silk,72 × 90 cm, 1985 ...............COVER
 
  MATERNAL LOVE 母愛,
gouache on silk,72 × 53 cm, 1984.....BACK COVER
   By CHEN Chin 陳進

 

CHEN I-chih 陳義芝

SEASIDE WASTELAND
海濱荒地*

Translated by John J. S. BALCOM 陶忘機


Once again I see father’s hoe rising and falling in the field
The sun is almost directly overhead, he hoes with vigor
From her basket, mother takes out an earthenware bowl of
   warm porridge
And places it in the shade of some small trees
It’s a scene from about forty years ago

The dry ground skirted the windbreak
The windbreak followed the curve of the shore
In those days, there were fierce sun-blinding waves on the sea

So unlike this stretch of cold, greasy soup before me now
In those days, father looked like a sunflower in his straw hat

We all wore such hats every day

Head against wind and waves
   as if unearthing the bones of the dead
Father hoed with vigor, and we were the
Scarecrows playing in the fields
Sometimes we became the sparrows that
Flew into the shade of the windbreak
Deep within the wood where the wind blew a small temple stood

Wispy clouds float on the horizon, the cicadas are deafening
I squat atop the ruined granary
Searching for my scarecrows in all directions
Memories rising and falling at the seaside
That straw hat like a sunflower in a wasteland
With his hoe, father raised a tomb for his sweat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



From Chen I-chih’s 陳義芝 Chen I-Chih shih-chi shih-hsuan 《陳義芝‧世紀詩選》[Chen I-chih, collected poems of the century], Taipei: Elite Publishing, 2000, 2-3.


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