The Second Kiss - Yan Ai Lin / 颜艾琳

Yan Ai Lin / 颜艾琳







The Second Kiss

Pedestrians have been hidden by night,

I can not take it

One of the corner

Or you.

Just we eat the German pig feet,

Fried belly of the milkfish, Hakka fried,

Drank a few bottles of Taiwan’s beer ...

Actually, uh

Have been full. And you

Uh, want to eat something more

And what are they? Uh?

That you would like to say,

Is the answer I already knew

But could you please don’t say it.

At this moment, the posture that we wait for car

Is also like waiting for each other to reply,

I wish car does not come.

And I wish car comes quickly.

Car and red light are tigers,

Eyeing and seeing this outcome.

82 seconds before they are approaching,

You mix with a meaty

Fishy, and alcoholy kiss

Improving the tension of the war.

Lights, are flashing green

Your kiss does not stop,

Our relationship is like deep night and early morning,

Difficult to define

Ambiguous.


(Translated by Vivi Chen)







第二个吻

夜晚已将行人隐没，

我无法占据

这其中的一角

或你。

刚刚我们吃了德国猪脚

煎虱目鱼肚、客家小炒，

喝了几瓶台湾啤酒……

其实，呃

已将太饱了。而你

呃，意犹未尽的

是什么呢？呃？

你即将说出的，

是我早已知道的答案

但能否不要说出。

此刻，我们等车的姿势

也像是等待彼此回复；

最好车不要来。

最好车子赶快来。

车子和红灯都是老虎，

眈眈而视此一结局。

在它们逼临前的八十二秒，

你用一个混合着肉香

鱼腥、酒气的吻

提高了开战的紧张。

灯，闪绿

你们的吻还不结束，

我们开始如深夜与凌晨的关系，

难以界定地

暧昧了。









Yan Ai Lin was born in Tainan, Taiwan, in 1968. She holds a degree in History from Fu Jen Catholic University and has studied in the M.A. program of Language and Creative Writing at National Taipei University of Education. Starting from 2005, Yan starts teaching as a guest lecture at Yuan Ze University, Shih Hsin University, Chen Hsin University of Technology and Science, National Taipei College of Business, and Indigenous Community College. Yan is a former consultant for the Cardinal Tien Educational Center in Taipei, and Editor-in-chief of HARVEST Farm Magazine; she is now Director of the “Poetic Leap” program of Qi Dong Poetry Salon in Taipei. In Yan’s fruitful career as a poet, she has won of many major literary awards, including the Wu Cho-liu Literary Awards for new poetry, the Chinese Literature and Art Literary Award, Outstanding Youth Publish Award, National Outstanding Poet Award, Poet Laureate of Hainan Island Poetry Festival, Poet Laureate of the Reciter Poetry Festival, also her works were selected as the optimal poems by the Epoch Poetry Quarterly for its fortieth anniversary. During Yan’s youth, she was active in many fields, she played bass for a punk rock band, performed in an experimental theater, and also was a member of “Kindle” poetry quarterly and many other indie magazines. These varied experiences are reflected in Yan’s works, opening possibilities of multidimensional sparks in her poetry, allowing other forms of arts to convey their essence. Stone Theatre adapted You Killed Your Love into a poetry theater; Le Voyeur Theatre also has reconstructed a set of her poems into a theatrical performance; in 2014, Magnetism of Children was brought onto the stage of Edinburgh Festival Fringe by Assembly Dance Theatre; Super Vending Machine was composed into a soul-pop song by award-wining singer Lo Sirong; there is also a micro-film based on her two works which are Fruit of a Maiden and Hsinchu Ballad. Her works can often be found as teaching materials for various academic purposes, ranging from junior high school to postgraduate programs, as well.


颜艾琳 中国台湾地区台南人，1968 年出生，辅仁大学历史系毕业、台北教育大学语文创作所肄业。十三岁发表第一篇新诗和散文，十六岁即在台湾地区的重要文学副刊发表诗作，曾担任耕莘文教院顾问、韩国文学季刊《诗评》中国台湾地区顾问、内地诗歌刊物顾问与网站专栏诗人。她曾获出版协进会颁发的出版优秀青年奖、创世纪诗刊四十周年优选诗作奖、文建会新诗创作优等奖、全国优秀诗人奖、2010 年度吴浊流新诗正奖等奖项，以及2011 年中国文艺文学类新诗奖章，并担任重要文学奖评审与艺文课程讲师、策划人、主持人、咨询委员，2010年与他人合编并主演舞台剧《无色之色》等。她著有《微美》、《骨皮肉》、《诗乐翩篇》等十五本书，其重要诗作已被译成英、法、韩、日等国文字，并被选入各种国文教材。