Mantis 20 (Spring 2022)
Translations
Chiew Ruoh Peng
translated from the Chinese by Yee Heng Yeh
死神是乌龟
在预知必败的赛事
我们还傲慢成兔子
在每一株荫凉的树底
歇息 滑手机
甚至点烟
没看见风景中的乌龟
缓缓爬过
我们拔足狂追
却愣在终点前
他在线后面
歇息 滑手机 点烟
偶尔抬头
缓缓招手
Death is the Tortoise
In this race that we’re bound to lose,
we’re cocky enough to play the Hare.
Beneath each cool, shady tree
we stretch out, scroll on our phones,
and even have a smoke.
We don’t notice the Tortoise in the picture
slowly crawling by.
Then we tear off in mad pursuit,
only to stop in surprise at the end point.
There he is behind that line—
stretched out, scrolling on his phone, having a smoke.
Now and then he looks up
and slowly waves at us.
无诗
妳拂袖 一下美绝的动作
竟把日月星辰
尽收袖里
夜因此汹涌而来
被黑暗淹死的意识
漂荡成面目模糊的
浮尸
今夜无诗
想这一生
必也无诗
No Poetry
In one graceful sweep of your arm
you tuck the sun, moon, and stars
into your sleeve.
So the night surges in,
the dark deluging the mind
that now floats like a body
with bloated, blurred features.
There is no poetry tonight.
I suppose there won’t be any poetry
for the rest of my nights.
CHIEW RUOH PENG is a Malaysian Chinese poet who writes primarily in Chinese. He is also a regular spoken word poetry performer. He helms Mentor Publishing Sdn. Bhd., which regularly publishes Malaysian Chinese literary work and runs literary events. Chiew also propagates the art by frequent lecturing. He has won several literary awards including Hua Zong Literary Award (Malaysia), Hai-O Literary Award (Malaysia) and Outstanding Young Poet Award (Taiwan). Three compilations have been published under the titles Lovesick, Speedread, and Vanilla. Besides writing poetry, he is also a columnist for several newspapers, and an entrepreneur.
YEE HENG YEH currently works as a Mandarin-to-English translator while writing in his spare time. He mostly translates webnovels, but has also translated the subtitles of a few documentary films. His poetry has been featured in The KITA! Podcast, adda, Unmasked: Reflections on Virus-time, NutMag, Malaysian Millennial Voices, and was shortlisted in the Malaysian Poetry Writing Competition 2021. Besides poetry, he writes plays and occasionally short fction as well. You can fnd him on Twitter at @HengYeh42.