Unnamed Town - Chen Dong Dong / 陈东东
The bend here in the river / has made it what it is / and even more so / the crudeness of the cement railings on both banks /
Chen Dong Dong / 陈东东
Unnamed Town
The bend here in the river
has made it what it is
and even more so
the crudeness of the cement railings on both banks
The postal building with peeling green is enough to
form it
along with two or three trees
under whose shade is a steel-wheeled bicycle
The small bank is a necessary facility
with glass doors covered in dust, setting off the dust-
covered school across the street
and the broadcaster broadcasting
a broadcast exercise routine on repeated broadcast
The other shadows belong to a few people
who don’t want to move at all
on the bridge they look down into the river
and in the oval courtyard at their guesthouse
they watch a Go board emerge from a well
Convenience stores. Vegetable markets. Barbershops
an internet Café dim because it once was a granary
and a visitor steps out
of the chat box on the computer screen, and arrives here
]he doesn’t want to find what he’s looking for here, here in
this moment… this age
(Translated by Eleanor Goodman)
莫名镇
一条河在此转折
就已经造就了它
何况还有
两岸水泥栏杆的粗陋
剥落绿色的邮政建筑也足以
构成它
再加上两三棵树
荫影里停着大钢圈自行车
小银行则是必要的设施
玻璃门蒙尘，映现对街
蒙尘的学校
广播在广播
广播体操反复的广播
另一些影子属于几个人
不愿意稍稍挪动自己
在桥上低头看流水
在家庭旅馆的椭圆形院子里
看一盘残棋浮出深井
百货铺。菜市场。剃头店
网吧幽暗因为从前那是个谷仓
从电脑显示屏颤抖的对话框
到来者跨出，来到了此地
他其实不想找在此要找的，正当
这么个时刻……这么个时代
陈东东（1961-），作家，诗人。出生并长期生活于上海。1980 年代初大学读书期间开始写诗，先后做过高中语文教师，工商史志资料员和撰写者，歌剧刊物、寺院杂志与网站、报纸书评版与专栏版编辑，图书公司策划等，现居深圳和上海。他是当代中国的一位主要诗人，当代诗歌生活的重要参与和推动者。著有诗集《导游图》（2013，台北）、《海神的一夜》（2018，南京）、《组诗·长诗》（2018，武汉）、《流水》（2018，上海）、《陈东东的诗》（2018，北京）和随笔集《黑镜子》（2014，北京）、《只言片语来自写作》（2015，北京）等。
Chen Dongdong (1961- ) was born in Shanghai and graduated from the Shanghai Normal University in 1984. He studied Chinese language and Literature in the university and began poetry writing during his campus life. He is widely regarded as one of the leading poets of the Chinese Contemporary Poetry. Chen has been the editor of poetry journals Works (1982-1984), Tendency (1988-1991) and Southern Poetry Magazine (1992-1994). Previously the poetry editor of the overseas literary and humanities journal, Tendency (1994-1997). His publications include a book of long poem, Summer Book • Unblocked Book (2011), Two collections of short poems, Guide Map (2013), The Night of the Sea God (2018) and a volume of hybrid writing, Flowing Water (2018) and two books of essays, Black Mirror (2013), Thoughts on Poetry (2013). With Chinese-American poet Zhang Er, he co-edited a bilingual anthology of Chinese contemporary poetry, Another Kind of Nation: An Anthology of Contemporary Chinese Poetry (Talisman House, 2007, New York).
