Third Coast Translators Collective is an international community of literary translators. Our members share resources, mentor one another, workshop projects in progress, facilitate pathways to publication, and foster a sense of belonging and excitement about the profession. We seek to build relationships with other literary and cultural organizations in Chicago and to become a valuable point of reference for international literature. This is the fifth in an occasional series featuring translations by members of TCTC.
Forthcoming from Zephyr Press January 2025.
Departure
The subway is
on fire again
the ground carpeted with smoke
firemen in neon yellow
I can’t stop coughing
K, it’s good you’re not here
Every time I leave
I linger along your neck
step into a taxi
clearly headed the wrong way
exhausted like a French arthouse film
there’s always a male and female lead
reuniting for us
離開
地鐵又
著火了
一地白煙
消防員螢光黃
我不斷的咳
K幸好妳不在
每一次離開
流連在妳的頸之間
上一輛的士
開去一定是錯的地方
虛脫如一部法國電影
總有女男主角
為我們重逢
Popcorn
I sink my hand into
the brimming popcorn you proffer
warm like my body
kernels of
golden yellow and creamy white
on my fingertips swimming in it
all buttered
only wishing they were longer
my fingers I mean
I place each fleck into my mouth
and savor sinking my teeth in
as if to
say—no, cry out—
love, it’s only
popcorn
爆谷
我把手插入
妳盈握的爆谷纍纍
溫暖如我身
點點
金黃與米白
抹拭暢泳的指頭
牛油過後
只希望它們可再長一點
我指我的手指
把點滴放進口中
珍惜咬下去的力度
彷彿跟妳
說——不，呼喊——
親愛的，這只是
爆谷呢
Unknown
Illness is walking a line between
life and death you’re
a live chicken pecking at feed
to live until another cock crows
that leaves the people who’ve never said goodbye
only they fear shuffling off
it’s easier to slip away than to stay
dying without regrets is impossible dying well is even harder
you’ll want your eyes closed
you’ll want just a handful of ashes
to rub your nose in their yellowness
Living badly doesn’t require courage
you can live towards the ultimate good death
learning how not to be afraid of death
is the only way to know life
未知
病原是 出生入死
一線間 做一只
活雞撐着吃飯
要換來另一只雞鳴
餘下沒契濶的人
才會怕比泰山重
走比留易
無憾是不可能 如歸更難
不瞑目好難看
一把灰不足惜一撒手
不外乎碰上一鼻子鴨黃色
歹活不需勇氣
修練終極好死
學習不怕死
才有知生的可能
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Yau Ching is a poet, scholar and filmmaker from Hong Kong. While managing her multiple identities, she has been making socially engaged work for more than three decades. She has authored more than thirteen books, including award-winning poetry collections, and produced and directed more than ten films/videos. Her poems have been translated and featured in international literary venues and publications including World Literature Today, Asymptote, Catamaran, Transpacific Literary Project, and Center for the Art of Translation, among others.
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Chenxin Jiang is a PEN/Heim winning translator from Italian, German, and Chinese, and a member of the Third Coast Translators Collective. Her translations include The Cowshed: Memories of the Chinese Cultural Revolution by Ji Xianlin for New York Review Books and Tears of Salt: A Doctor’s Story by Pietro Bartolo and Lidia Tilotta. She was born in Singapore, grew up in Hong Kong, and now lives in Denver.
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