Translated from the Chinese by Eleanor Goodman

最近愛上即溶咖啡

溶掉你 像溶掉我心

留下污漬

在牆壁、衣角和抽屜

發霉 沒有發臭

許是咖啡因已經過期

連閨怨也無法保鮮
是因為神探伽俐略才愛上咖啡

心跳、手震

與愛情的凶案無關

(誰是無辜的殺害者?)

跌宕、懸疑

和你的行蹤脫線

(你的不在場證明!)

偶爾會在網上發現

跟你同名同姓的人

但網海恢恢 疏而缺漏

我的死前留言如被肢解的屍身

總載浮載沉

祗好離座離線走長長的階梯

從前半生走到下半世
最後落腳空曠的天井抱著貓看天

清晨的陽光濕著昨夜的雨

鳥聲啞著城市的煙塵

貓的尾巴很短 比我的愛念長

倏忽鬆手便從此滑落

貓毛與虛無
我低頭對自己的影子發笑

舉頭尋找一片青天

祗得來一張藍幕的暈眩

像電腦的閃光

然後樓下傳來兇狠的狗吠

尖銳的嘶叫咬住我的聽覺不放

狼心 如鐵

我追著黑貓咒罵

胃裏一陣翻騰

決定再來一杯咖啡

溶掉你 像溶掉我心
Translation

Recently I’ve fallen in love with instant coffee

dissolving you like dissolving my heart

leaving dark stains

on the walls, clothing, drawers

mildewing odorless

perhaps the caffeine has expired

not even love poetry can keep things fresh
I fell in love with coffee because of Detective Galileo

my heart leaps and hands tremble

but that has nothing to do with love’s homicide case

(who murdered the innocent?)

boldness, suspense

and your whereabouts offline

(your alibi!)

once in a while on the web I’ll discover

someone else with your name

but the internet is vast scattered and uneven

my last note before I die will be like a dismembered corpse

bobbing up and down

it’s better to go offline and climb a long flight of stairs

from the first half of your life to the second
At last I’m on the open patio with the cat watching the sky

the early morning sunlight is wet from last night’s rain

the birdsong is hoarse from the city’s pollution

the cat’s tail is quite short it’s longer than my affection

I let go swiftly and off slips

cat fur and nothingness
I bow to my own shadow and smile

I lift my head to look for a bit of clear sky

but all I see is a dizzying blue curtain

like the flickering of a computer screen

then a ferocious barking drifts up from a lower floor

the sharp yapping sinks its teeth into my senses

a wolf heart like iron

I chase the black cat cursing

my stomach churns

I decide to have another cup of coffee

dissolving you like dissolving my heart

洛楓 (Lok Fung) is our Poet in Resident for June. These poems are from the book 自我紙盒藏屍的日子 (Days When I Hide My Corpse
In A Cardboard Box), Zephyr Press, 2018, translated from the Chinese by Eleanor Goodman, and used with permission.