MCLC: Poem for Zhang Liumao

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Poem for Zhang Liumao
Yesterday I chanced upon a message on Twitter about a man who died in police custody in Guangzhou. There were many postings, some with photos. One person had posted two poems, apparently by different authors. I translated the first one I saw. Then I copied the pictures of the original poem and put it all on my blog.
The information that comes out in the poem may not be entirely correct. There was another posting that said Zhang Liumao was not cremated before the family was notified.
Here is the poem in English:
Xiaoqiong
GRASS-MUD-HORSE
They say cursing isn’t right;
if you curse other people you have no breeding, no education.
I am fearful,
have to be very careful
to be a tasteful woman
in front of their eyes.
But today I decide
to break this commandment.
Today
I have to shout dirty words.
Zhang Liumao, born in Canton
on June 20, 1972,
detained on August 15, 2015
for “inciting trouble with words”.
On November 4 at three in the morning,
his family received a notice
from Canton #3 Detention Center,
to collect the ashes of Zhang Liumao.
When I heard this
I was taking a stroll
in a beautiful village.
It looked like a painting.
And I went spitting into the daisies:
Fuck you, fuck you ten thousand times!
Fuck your goddamn mother!
Then
I cleared my throat
and walked forth with great strides.
11/4/15
Tr. MW, Nov. 5, 2015
Best,
Martin Winter <dujuan99 at gmail.com>
by denton.2 at osu.edu on November 6, 2015
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