New Perspectives on Contemporary Chinese Poetry

But we’re indispensable, we
three sisters
Slim and graceful, we glide
to and fro
Looking like sure winners
But I mean to make mischief,
I’m cruel at heart
Keeping up a good daughter’s
sweet-tempered appearance
My footsteps retrace my daily
defeats

Awaiting proposals in our
boudoirs, we’re fair maids
of good family
We smile resentfully, racking
our brains
For ways to augment our
charms
Youthful, beautiful, like fires
ablaze
Seared black, these
single-minded snares
(Which of these good men
with well-sharpened teeth,
an unwavering gaze
And steady expression will be
my brother-in-law?)

I sense
Our chamber is beset on all sides
In the night, both cats and mice
have awakened
We go to sleep, and search in
our dreams for unknown
house-numbers
In the night, we women are
like ripe melons about to
fall from the vine
Conjugal bliss, et cetera

We three sisters, different
with each new day
Marriage, still at the crux
of finding a mate
Lights in the bedroom fill the
newlyweds with disappointment

108 Andrea Lingenfelter

>券在@的A样

我却有CDE, 内GH薄

表面L持N女P的QRS

TUV天的失X

YZ[\, 我"]^_`女

aa地cd, 挖fGg

Dhijk%l%m

no, pq, 如r如s

t制v, vwG的圈套

(z{牙}~利, €光‚ƒ的Q

„…†‡的面ˆ]我的4‰?)

我到

我"的危‹Œ‡

在Ž, 老’“醒着

我"–睡, 在˜\™š›

的_œ码

在Ž, 我"]Ÿ 蒂¢的女

£¤倒¦, 如§§

我"456, 我" ̈月ª

«¬, ­然] ̄偶的\G

卧²的光³D«‰妇μ¶

· ̧¹, 我ºhi»

“¼]½¾的地¿”