Liang Xiaoman

 Liang Xiaoman

Two Poems Translated from the Chinese by Benjamin Orion Landauer

Pain

for F——

a little bird buried alive in gravel
the grating laughter of little boys dancing around my head
like the sound of heavy machinery drawing near
you look at a younger you——
our genes belong to the same family
somber silence, the earliest pain

many years later, a great firelight
got clamped out, you can’t see a single trace of regret
on his demeanorless face
we all used to yearn after the stars like this
rising from a pallid and gloomy room

System Error

before talking about this, could you
be expelled from your body just like
freeing a horse from its bridle
selfhood is a relatively undeveloped
processor, occasionally hindering you
taking on more difficult tasks
with it, we can cope with
life’s basic problems
when the body suffers malaise
we can go to the hospital automatically
undertake simple transactions
purchase daily necessities
promote expenditure, and from this
acquire some kind of dopamine, which helps us
harbor a happy heart
approach others, arrange dates
and under the influence of a proper amount of alcohol
help god rearrange its serial number
before we start talking let’s
update this processor
facing the bathroom mirror
you hug yourself like you are hugging
a string of code, you can’t feel
love, you can’t feel desire
let us start the discussion,
what is love?
love is one person approaching the end
what is the end?
the end is the program god wrote for you
what is death?
death is a system repair
what is poetry?
poetry is a system error
what is poetry?
poetry is a system error
what is poetry?
poetry is a system error