Ever-haunting Transitory
By Zhong Lei
You bade me farewell with ‘Meet me again? Not on your life!’,
— a scene still vividly emblazoned; you walked out like a sunspot vanishing from the maze of the body.
You should have left without a trace,
So why the remains of your body? Why playing a scapegoat that wrestles with Death?
You should have entirely washed your hands clean,
Then why the silhouette, still looming out of the distance, like a dust falling from above?
I guess, you were not quite prepared for a resolute rupture.
Why still setting fire to the same cross,
to burn down your destiny as a liar, your destiny of fruitlessness?
I long to dug your bones out, scrub them with the wind,
and wash the unsatisfied desires off you.
Why wouldn’t you just comprehend? Should I grasp your skull as a mug,
and swallow the last drop of perishing time?
You even made me say: ‘I never was a successful maverick, or a hostage of Time.’
（Tr. Eglantine Yin）
附原文：
了犹未了
文/钟磊
你以提头来见的名义，走了，
走得那么逼真，像一粒太阳的黑子走出了身体之谜。
你走了就走了吧，
何必留下一具尸骨，像一头替罪羊抢走死亡的一秒钟，
你走了就走了吧，
何必留下恍惚的影子，像一粒尘埃落在人们的头顶。
我说，在你走了之前还是没有做好一刀两断的事，
你怎么还要在一个十字架上纵火，
烧毁撒谎的命运，命运没有结果。
我想把你的骨灰扒出来，用空气给你洗澡，
洗掉你在尘世的未了之事。
你怎么还是不懂我的心思，难道想让我抓起你的头颅当酒盅，
喝下死去的一滴光阴不成？
还让我说：“不逍遥，光阴也没有把我带走。”
Shadow-play of Vicissitudes: Redefining the Number ‘13’
By Gangke
ΔTry to divide the number 13 from the middle, under the guidance of equinoctial theory that divides day and night even. This number may be chopped in half by an axe, but no balance could be made out of two parts, the result is always 7 an 6, symbolizing that the devils outnumbered the gods by 1. How magnificent are the numbers of 7 and 6! ‘7’ refers to the laws of nature, and the circle of time①; between fortune and its opposite, 6 inclines to the former. It stands for cheering of a happy family and an enriched life. When the meaning of existence is multiplied, the mind becomes a void, where there is nothing else to speculate, so you have to speculate on voidness itself.
Δ13 is the sum of 5 and 8, which seems greater than the combination of 7 and 6. Why so? The number 5 divides 360 degrees into 5 72-degrees. The number 5 — a symbol of a five-dimensional universe, containing five elements, and 72 refers to 72 incarnations of a Bodhisattva. Compared to ‘Supremacy’, ‘superiority’ is relatively ‘inferior’, i.e. worthless. Nobody can define 8 correctly, as it is common sense that 8 is both the summit and intersection point of hallucination and surlogic, and a u-turn between heat with coldness. The miracle of 8②: It is a bungee jumping, aiming at fortune that ends up with misery: The shape of this number is made up of two ‘0’s, which stand for Buddha and the Devil: The huge rock of fate is blown to an extreme so descendants of human race will be overcome with awe .
Δ13 is the sum of 9 and 4: 9 stand for ‘eternity’ while 4 stands for ‘death’③, both logical terminals of life. Eternity contains mercy of Buddha, which should not be owned but shared, therefore redemption of all living things is more beneficent than being immortal alone. 9 is Avalokitesvara among all numbers, which sacrifices itself for saving all beings from mortality, by taking away Death (‘4’) from them and leaving the number of luxuriance: 5- 5 elements, the skeleton of the world. In this way 13 becomes: 4, 4 and 5. The owner of two ‘4’s can either be double doomed to ever-sleeping, or make them an ‘8’, and rise to glory and prosperity.
Δ13 is the sum of 10 and 3. 10 symbolize ‘impeccability’ in Chinese culture, and ‘3’ reminds people of a triangle. However, 10 is a doubled cruelty too, as it contains the number 1, whose shape is unstable and turned out falling towards to starving crowd, while 0 is shaped like a blood pool. When the sharp ‘1’ rises from its throne like a blade, carnage of the humble is destined to take place. Thousands of mouths kept from shouting, remain wide open, in the shape of ‘0’s. During the post-Auschwitz period, the number ‘13’ has been inherited in either white or red. Poetry is responsible for stopping the bleeding, that is the reason why we have started the first line of it.
Δ13 is the sum of 11 and 2, running parallel with you across the Milky Way. 1 is the number for solitude, without transmission or proliferation. When all memories zoom out, ‘1 plus 1’ will be mingled into a sequence of ‘2’s, and vice versa. If 2 divides itself into two ‘1’s, there will be 4 ‘1’s in total. They race together bridle to bridle, but never merged into one another. No particle in the universe can find the bliss that they did, either in the endless flow of time, or in the wheel of karma. 4 ‘1’s sum up to 4: utter desolation beyond redemption！
Δ13 is the sum of 12 and 1. 12, the number of Chinese Zodiac animals, perfection of beauty and glory, Rat, Ox, Tiger and Hare…marshaled into the presence of God in order. 12 symbolizes the moment when the sun reaches the meridian and starts to decline, standing on the edge that leads to danger. Therefore when the dominant number ‘1’ combines the Zodiac number ‘12’, the number ‘13’ emerges. The First Emperor of Qin failed to develop elixir of life during his lifetime④, so his elixir boluses were left to be bathed in rays from the vault above and the earth below, which later became the suns of antediluvian period. Hou Yi⑤ shot 9 of them, no more, no less, There were 4 suns left in the vault, as a symbol of seasons of a year: thunders in winter and snow in summer. 2012, a fictitious doom, rooted nowhere but in people’s hearts. It is supposed to be end of the end, doom of the doom, covering us like smothering chain mail, and Buddha would weep out of sympathy if seeing this. 12 can be divided into 3 ‘4’s, symbolizing the unpredictable; then it becomes 2、8、2, which is a sign that love is higher than foolishness⑥. 12 independent ‘1’s show us: Every winding road leads to a dead end, not the other way around. On the contrary, the way that led you here is a blind alley.
Δ13 is the sum of 13 and 0. When the number 13 comes home, looks back and finds nothing but disillusionment. The number 13 has been condensed at its maximum. 13 almighty gods form an invulnerable circle, closely bonded, leaving out no blood-drops or gossamer; its previous dreams have also been shepherded home too, resting in absolute zero where they used to be, they are children without self-consciousness or vision, the smallest particles ever existing since the universe was born in thunders. Is this immature Buddha nature or true essence of Sunyata? Nobody ever mentioned the fact: Pure fire, with no elements of wind or earth, is capable of coming through water. Now there is no more temptation or massacre. The so-called ‘vitality’ is but a joke to posterity!
21:33, 26th, January, 2013
Translator’s note:
①‘7’ refers to the laws of nature, and the circle of time : 7 refers to seven heavenly bodies including the sun, the moon, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Saturn here, as the author introduced in an interview, and 7 days of a week, 7 colors of a rainbow as well
②The miracle of 8: the number 8 stands for luck, esp. fortune, in Chinese culture.
③9 and 4: they have similar pronunciations with the two words of ‘eternity’ and ‘death’ respectively in Chinese.
④elixir of life: according to Chinese myth, elixir is usually in shape of boluses.
⑤Hou Yi and suns of antediluvian period: in the Chinese myth, Hou Yi was an archer, a hero who shot nine extra suns from the sky and saved the people from drought.
⑥‘2’: The number 2 has similar pronunciation in Chinese to the noun ‘love’, and under some circumstances ‘2’ refers to a fool in slang.
（Tr. Eglantine Yin）
附原文：
小鬼把戏：解13
文/钢克
Δ13，从中间开始，从昼夜平分法开始， 13可被利斧斩断，但不可被其平分：魔总是多一个，7与6！7主自然法度，年的微循环；6在顺与不顺间主顺，合家欢呼，人世不空，身子多了，脑子空了，没什么可悟的了，乃悟空。
Δ13，5和8应大于7与6——5将周遭360度等分为5个72度，5自身引领金木水火土之五行占五维之先，又携72种变化之算度，在超强那里，强，意味着不行，不入法眼；8，无人可解，因人人皆知，融梦幻与超逻辑变换之双重海岸于冰火两天之间。8之奇迹：永远向上的蹦极，财富悲催了人类的想象：0与0的双排泄系统结成联盟，魔佛共济：将巨石吹向极限，以向后世催命。
Δ13，9与4：乃命之正解，要么长生，要么死掉，长生有佛都不容挥泪之慈悲，9，非自9，乃自9、9他，9乃数中之观音，舍自身之4于他者之4间，徒余5而不孤：5生万物之骨：他者或手持双4，坠向万仞，或加而为8，潜鳄升天。
Δ13，10与3,10满溢，而3寓于一角，10，白色，双重之残暴：1倒下，街向饥饿的人群延伸，0成为城楼下空场上的血影，1起立，一柄残杀之利刃挥向0的千万草芥，千万张不能呐喊的嘴，模拟着0，做出“啊”的形状，奥斯维辛之后，13或白或红地嫡传，诗，不得不止住血滴，才有了写下第一行的理由。
Δ13，11与2，永远和你隔银河而并行，独自的1，没有承传，没有繁衍，记忆在时光中缩小，1加1混入2的无名序列，反之亦然：2一分为二：四个1，四个世纪并肩上路，永不相融，没有任一粒子能找到它的美乐，没有穷尽的时光，孩子们在六道轮回中翻滚不宁。四个1，加而为4：永劫不复！
Δ13，12与1,12，绝伦的美与荣耀，子丑寅卯……鱼贯见上帝，12独立天堑之边缘，当独尊之1独揽12星座，13即开始尾随，始皇帝没有在任一星座炼成他的丹，丹则独享玄黄，后羿射之，下9日，非8非10，天余4日，4宛若冬雷夏雪，2012，不可能之灾，由心而生。尽头之尽头、末日之末日，如金罩铁杉加于我身，而佛为之掩面。12化己为4、4、4，以逾莫测；化己为2、8、2，明喻：爱大于蠢行；12个独自的1表明：路只向绝路延伸，不可逆推——逆推，来路即绝路。
Δ13，13与0，到家了，回首往昔，一声空响是也。13到达密度之极值，13阎罗首尾勾连，密而不分，既无血也无游丝；梦也到家了，找到了不起源的绝对零度，无神无色的孩子们，是雷劈苍天后最小的粒子，微佛与真空，没人说：无风无土的火行于水中。没有妩媚、没有残杀。生机，只是后世的一则笑料！
2012. 1.26，21:33．
The Lantern
By Zhu Yongfu
The lantern knows the depth of the night
better than feet of the lantern carrier
Its creamlike tinge spreads, exploits, and take an adventure into the dark
It dives and surfaces
knowing the warmth of the fire within
It has opened valve of the night:
There rises the wilderness, the moor, the rapids
mysticism, benevolence and spirituality
Where has it come and where will it be steered towards?
That depends on the carrier
The path of late autumn winds along, with rises and falls
twists and turns
inhaled and exhaled by the darkness, then submerged by the darkness
As if God has bent his forefinger slightly
And luckily I ran into this amazing scene
（Tr. Eglantine Yin）
附原文：
灯
文/朱永富
相对于提灯人的脚力，灯
更熟知夜的深浅
发黄的光晕，扩散，探索，冒险
深入浅出
冷暖自知
它拧开夜的阀门
旷野，泥淖，险滩
神秘主义，悲悯和灵性
从哪里来，将去向哪里
这是掌灯人的问题
深秋的夜路波动，起伏，跌宕
峰回路转
被夜色吞吐，被夜色淹没
仿若神灵弯曲的食指
这些，刚好被我撞到了
Memories of Luozu Village — No.3 of The Series
By Guo Jinniu
Xia Dynasty. A carpenter indulged in classicalism, ran his hands through a piece of wood
and made it thrumming like a guitar
Ming Dynasty. The things that the runners of county yamen ever touched
started to ring like pieces of ironware, and cracked like bones
It sounded like strangers trying to force open a bud
He strolled
from Dong Chang to Xi Chang①, taking advantage of others’ wives,
acting more unscrupulously than Palace-guard Gao② did.
and extorted money from people.
Yuan Dynasty. A man called Timur
A casual laborer on the construction site, who had Mongolian blood
showed others tattoos covering his body from chest to wrist, which described
his dreams of becoming a Mongol Empire
Hold on, you fearless warrior
Let’s lie in ambush in the D major melody
of an old guitar, fiddling around
inside concrete
and steel
Ming closely followed Yuan, when he was hunted after
everywhere. No, he was no spy of the former dynasty
He was
my proletarian comrade
Translator's note
①Dong Chang and Xi Chang: both were national organization for espionage and secret investigations, under the management of a senior eunuch.
②Palace-guard Gao: a notorious Don Juan and bully in the novel ‘The Outlaws of Marsh’.
（Tr. Eglantine Yin）
附原文：
罗租村往事（之三）
文/冲动的钻石
夏。古典的小木匠，他摸过的木头是吉它的美声
明。六扇门的捕快，他摸过的事物
有铁器，碎骨的声音
有陌生人，强行打开花朵的声音
他
从东厂巡到西厂，比高衙内还狠，动别人的女人
收保护费。
元，铁木儿。
一个工地上的小工，蒙古人的后代
纹身，大汗的梦，从胸部扩大到手腕
且慢啊，好汉。
且与和我一起藏匿在
一把旧吉它的D调中，鬼混
于钢筋
和水泥
元。被
明反复追捕。他，不是前朝的奸细
他，是我无产阶级
兄弟。
Series of Melancholy-relieving Poems: Every Literary Man Has a Short Fuse
By Zeng Jihu
Confused by an intractable word, he would even turn against the world
Incensed by the slightest disagreement, he would just flounce out of the room
Yet he has elusive joy of his own
in summoning whispers of autumn around, and in leaning comfortably upon a balustrade
（Tr. Eglantine Yin）
附原文：
遣怀诗·文人易怒
文/曾继虎
一字不安，即可憎恨世界；
一言不合，当然绝尘而去。
而他的快乐是微妙的；
召来一秋梦语，且以栖迟徙倚为伴。
The Noon Sun Ablaze Like a Rosy Apple
By Gu Jian
The sun of the masses
has unveiled itself
The whispering sand of time
sketches features of the city and the whirling leaves of this autumn
on our canvas
It did all the decorating, depicting, tumbling, destroying, and erasing of moments
The only fear is
that living is actually more ephemeral than death
New faces replace the old
while periods of time
overwrite the previous ones
Prayers could be heard, and mutability of things felt, in the quivering strokes
Power of birth
and realm of death, are not strong enough to stand against the agony of emptiness
People
who has taken them for granted
no longer ask for an explanation
All that we can do so far
is to surrender
Names and footprints among the concrete jungle
warmed
a tribute that we pay the new day
Memory is the garden where our hearts rest
where the birds that once soared into the sky, perch on the edge of the city now
and melodious bells sound from
the temple on distant hills
It is high noon
when the apple in the sky shines with a rosy tinge
and the earth trembles
（Tr. Eglantine Yin）
附原文：
在一个苹果泛红的正午
文/古剑
许多人的太阳
闪现
低语的时光
城市，落叶，秋日的时光
在我们的画布上
点缀，描绘，坠落，毁灭，抹去瞬间
唯一恐惧的是
活比死渺小
一个面孔替代另一个面孔
一段日子
爬上另一段日子
祈求，消失，抖颤细节的线条
诞生的力量
与消亡的世界，无法抵抗，空洞的痛苦
早已
习惯的人们
无需再去解释
我们至今能做到的，就是
放弃
钢筋水泥的名字和足迹
烫热
对新的一天的敬意
回忆，是我们心灵的花园
冲向天空的鸟，起落在城市的边缘
远山那座小寺庙
敲响传说的钟
在一个
苹果泛红的正午
大地颤动
