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一个人的山海经 / The Book of Mountains and Seas by Tan Xi Zhe
一个人的山海经 / The Book of Mountains and Seas by Tan Xi Zhe
 

一个人的山海经
陈晞哲

打小心里住着一座动物园
入口有小叮当的任意门
猛兽是坚贞的守卫，纵容白兔的天真
外婆的唇瓣是神话之匙
白天，我是风里蠕动的毛毛虫
夜晚化蝶，潜入庄周的梦

人面蛇身是女娲婉约的原型
罩上岁月恶作剧的黑斗篷
长大后就蛹化为美杜莎
神殿满布刺眼的熠熠鳞片
每尊石像囚着一个悲剧英雄
昼伏夜出的猰貐，栖息火山口
追捕史官笔下超度的败寇

王者则用圆规画圈，尝试破解
伏羲的黑白两仪，换永生的翠绿
提着头颅的刑天，肚脐忍不住絮叨
老聃早已预言五色令人目盲
你们泅泳的是暗灰的江域
追逐一群大荒经里丑怪的鱼
围篱外有陶唐之丘，岸边青苔累叠
脚滑的政客注定找不到鞋

于是沉入水底的，不得不信
海下三千尺有袤沃的果实
能穿过细如针孔的咽喉
抵达腹大如斗的领地，然而
夜里除了猫科们的委屈婴啼
只隐约听见，四面胃壁
传来空旷孤绝的回音

——选自《一个人的山海经》第18-19页，季风带文化有限公司，2020年4月）

The Book of Mountains and Seas
Written by Tan Xi Zhe
Translated by Joshua Ip

Since young, my heart has housed a zoo
with Doraemon's portal for an entrance
a loyal Cerberus indulges the moon-rabbit's innocence
my grandmother's lips hold the key to myths
by day, i wriggle in the wind, a caterpillar
by night, i emerge a butterfly, slipping into Zhuangzi's dream

For Nuwa's elegance was always half-human, half-snake
Sheathed in the dark cloak of time's mischief
I grow and evolve into Medusa
In a temple full of shimmering scales
Each statue subjugates a tragic hero
Nocturnal, the Yali rests by the volcanic crater
before pursuing bandits who the historians will exorcise

The ruler scrying circles with a compass, deciphering
the wise one's Yin-Yang binary, in trade for the evergreen of immortality
A giant holding his decapitated head, his bellybutton grumbling
Laozi had long predicted that a multicolor world drives people blind
Where you are swimming is the darkest river-realm
Chasing a school of bizarre fish from the Wilderness Sutra
Beyond the fence, the hills of Taotang, banks layered with moss
Slippery-soled courtiers are cursed to never find fitting shoes

So those who sink into the waters cannot but believe
that three thousand feet beneath the waves lie fertile fruits
that can pass through throats thin as a needle's eye
to reach the territory of giant stomachs; however,
at night except for the aggrieved whimpers of cats
you can only faintly hear, through the intestinal walls all round,
the echoes of an epic emptiness

— Published in The Book of Mountains and Seas (Monsoon Books Co., Ltd., April 2020), pp. 18–19

Born and raised in Singapore in 1970s, Tan Xi Zhe graduated from NTU with PhD in Chinese Literature. In April 2020, she published her first solo poetry collection in Taipei.

陈晞哲，土生土长的新加坡女子。毕业于新加坡南洋理工大学，获颁博士学位。于2020年4月在台北出版个人诗集《一个人的山海》。

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Poems on the MRT is an initiative by the National Arts Council, in partnership with SMRT and Stellar Ace. Produced by Sing Lit Station, a local literary non-profit organisation, this collaboration displays excerpts of Singapore poetry throughout SMRT’s train network, integrating local literature into the daily experience of commuters. Look out for poems in English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil in trains on the East-West, North-South and Circle Lines, as well as videos created by local artists and featuring local poets in stations and on trains. The Chinese, Malay, and Tamil poems are available in both the original languages and English. To enjoy the full poems, commuters may read them on go.gov.sg/potm.

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