Poetry by Ma Lan: The Fires of July 七月流火

The Fires of July

When she goes, she leaps over the landscape
Embracing an armful of fish
Like stumbling upon the Peach Blossom Spring
That other world

Ever since woman gave birth by the road
To a child, her inverted shadow grew into an adult
Ah, little Xun, it early summer already
You can hear the sound of fishing
You better prepare to sweat
And push the fishing pole farther
Through the limits of the bait, past the real surface of the water

Then crash through the genderless wall
Wait for injured July to turn
And look, August will put down the stones
Lift up the cotton bolls,
Nearing the pests
This libertine melancholy grasps at the moon in the lake
A skin-shrinking
Motion, caressing each other
Faster than light, deeper than water

July 4, 2003

七月流火


她走时要翻越一片山水
怀抱满腹的鱼
好似转入了桃花源
那个另外的世界

自从女人沿街生下
孩子，她的倒影正长大成人
呵，小迅，已经初夏了
听见打鱼的声音
请你们准备好一场虚汗
把鱼杆推的更远
穿透诱饵的限制，跨过真实的水面

再撞破无性别的墙
等那受伤的七月转身
相望，八月将放下石头
举起棉花
和害虫亲近
这份自由的多情是湖中挖月
一种收缩皮肤
抚摸彼此的运动
比光更快，比水更深

2003/7/4