Breeze
Written by Chen Si’an
Translated from the Chinese by Jami Proctor Xu
Narrated by Jami Proctor Xu
China
Imagination is a shield
that can also be an indistinct rope
tying together your exhales and my inhales
The moment it is stretched tight, it loosens
As soon as one thinks of how it hangs in invisible tension,
it is no longer a shield
It is simply a breeze no one is willing to name
Once it is named it loses buoyancy
The music encircling your whole body right now
penetrates the tip of your tongue soaks my skin
It turns out the time that cannot be obtained is pale violet,
it can only play the strings longing can’t reach
The breeze cannot catch the moon it is finally prepared
to rename everything
The shadow that can’t be expelled is called from the forest
Evasion that can be delayed is called inevitable
I can only close my eyes inhale that breath again and again
and lock this breeze in my chest
Chen Si’an is a playwright, theatre director, poet, short story writer, and literary translator. She has written four collections of short stories and ten plays. Her plays have been performed at the Royal Court Theatre, Edinburgh International Festival, National Theatre Company of China, Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, Beijing International Fringe Festival, among other venues. She’s the executive editor of Wings Poetry, and founder and artistic director of the Sound and Fury Play Reading Festival.
Jami Proctor Xu is a bilingual poet and translator. She is the recipient of a Zhujiang Poetry Award and a First Readers Poetry Award. Her translations of Song Lin’s collection, Sunday Sparrows (Zephyr, 2020), received the Northern California Book Award for Poetry in Translation.