A Scene in the Street

A Scene in the Street
An old woman, with grey hair, held a baby in her arms
Squatting at the corner of the street and lifting the baby’s fat knees
There were two small, round pompons
Swaying in the golden and red knitting wool
Like the baby’s round, fat face
A pile of yellow shit, just deposited, pressingone after another, steaming
The old woman stood up and looked around, with her eyes looking for something
Suddenly she called a passer-by, a middle-aged woman
Kind but somewhat abashed to ask what she needed
The middle-aged woman searched for the whole body, helplessly
Suddenly, her eyes lit up, walking to the wall with “dengdengdeng”
There was a notice from the police station with a corner being torn
She tore another corner, half of the white paper in bold handwriting
With dry paste in the opposite
She gave it to the old woman, the old woman turned over the baby
showing the hip with one black seam
She tore the paper, covered the seam with paper, and held out her middle
Finger and thumb wiping something along the seam, then closing
Like a clipper clinched pieces of aluminum sheets for once, twice, the third time
The black seam disappered, leaving a fat, clean hip
The baby was turned over and wore a smile on the fat, chubby face

 


 《街头即景》

​©欧阳昱
老妈妈、花白头发,她怀里抱着小娃娃
蹲在街角、掇着孩子胖胖的膝窝
金红色的绒线中摇晃两个圆圆的
小绒球
像孩子胖胖的圆脸肉嘟嘟
一堆黄灿灿的屎、新拉下、一根压着一
根,冒着热气
老妈妈立起身,四顾着,用眼睛找寻什么
忽然她喊住一个路人,一个中年女人
和蔼但却有点困窘地问她要什么
中年女人上下摸摸、做出一副无可奈何的样子
忽然,她眼睛一亮,“蹬蹬噔”走到墙边
墙上贴着公安局告示,撕破了一角
她撕掉另一角、半张白纸印着黑体字迹
反面有点点干浆糊
她交给老妈妈、老妈妈把娃娃掉个面
露出一条黑缝的两爿肥屁股
她扯碎纸、把纸盖住那条缝、伸出中
指和拇指顺缝抐下去、合拢、
像尖口钳钳住铝片、一下、两下、三下
黑缝消失了、肥胖的屁股干干净净
娃娃掉个面、胖胖的肉嘟嘟的脸上笑了

 


 Li Lu

Li Lu, born in 1993, is currently a postgraduate student, majoring in English translation at Shanghai University of International Business and Economics. Her short story “The Story of a Carpenter” has been published in an online journal The Creativity Webzine and her poems have appeared in Chinese printed journals, like Huawen LiteratureTriangle Sailboat and Pujiang Literature.”

Ouyang Yu

“Ouyang Yu was born in the People’s Republic of China, arriving in Australia in 1991 to study for a Ph. D. at La Trobe University which he completed in 1995. Since then his literary output has been prodigious. Apart from several collections of poetry and a novel he has translated authors as diverse as Christina Stead, Xavier Herbert, Germaine Greer and David Malouf among others. He also edits Otherland, which is a bilingual English-Chinese literary journal.”