You Don't Listen Anyway

You don't listen anyway byShiah-Shiah You don't listen anyway You never listen There's a fishsunbathing On thedeck The chef'swife sweats like rain The tomatoes on the chopping board need washing You don't listen anyway you never listen The sailor casts theanchor theboat casts the sea That cat and dog are stillpals The leatherbelt has a hole in thebelly button Make a key thensteal somewine An injured fingercan stillbe used Shoes without socks eyeswithout eyebrows Fishwithout a deck can only swim toward you But you don't listenyou never listen 2007 Iam not hot byShiah-Shiah Having escaped the lastepidemic and theearthquake and theflood before that we stillhave time to elect tenpresidents and recall eleven togive birth to threethousand babies and clone thirtythousand tobuild an islandwith ice cubes where old people are not allowed We stillhave time to fabricateamyth that will endure establish a new religion with heads as offerings and blood forpsalms We stillhave time tobuymore time to snatch away other people's stomachs, hands, brains, and eyes with our stomachs, hands, brains, and eyes We stillhave time toput ina new battery set theTime tozero walk to thenext intersection toenjoy air-conditioning 2008 Road byEnid How to leave oneself? Musing on thisquestion one ends up being stuckhere If therearemigratory birds, falling rocks a sense of shame gradually dying a facegradually turningsilent then that'sokay If there is a low flame enough to igniteashes ifthere is running even ifitonly leaves behind a traceofmuddy tracks then that'sokay If there is love ifthere is regret ifthere is away ifthere isnothing at all then that'sokay Ifone docilely orwildly without any care followsHim to the faraway and at thisplace this moment remembers no more on a summer afternoon the fallingrain 2007 Translations from the Chinese ByMichelle Yeh & Frank Stewart SPECIAL SECTION Hung Hung (a.k.a. Hong Hong) isthe pen name of Yan Hongya, who was born in Tainan, grew up inTaipei, and received his BA indrama from National Taiwan University of Arts. A writer of poetry, fiction, essays, drama, and film scripts, he has been an influential figure inTaiwan's cultural scene. He isalso a director, actor, editor, and translator. He has two blogs, blog.roodo.com/hhung and wretch.cc/blog/darkeyeslab. Shiah-Shiah isa poet and multimedia artist. She teaches at an elementary school inTaipei. Enid ("Hidden") describes herself as "someone who loves towrite poetry but doesn't love being a poet." Her firstbook of poetry, Free Bodies, was recently published inTaiwan. For a biographical profile of Michelle Yeh, see page 24. For a biographical profile of Frank Stewart, see page 27. January-February 2010 i35

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