Fan Jinghua: Afternoon in a Café

　　Afternoon in a Café

For a whole afternoon, the afternoon is sinking
Muzak drowns human voices

Then you stand up, about to buy a pack of cigarettes
Of the same brand as the slender ones in the girl’s silver cassette
I take a glimpse of a spontaneous poem we all agree to try
The lines by the novelist much shorter
Than what the poet has written

By the winding staircase behind them
A mosquito killer flows out eerie fluorescence
Watching the whitish loops from our mouths
Rubbing each other, no sound
　　　　　　　　June 4, 2005

猫空的下午

整个下午下午一直在下沉
背景音乐淹没了人声

当你离座试图去买一包
某个女生烟盒里的香烟
我隔座瞥见
那首我们都同意的诗
小说家的句子很短
诗人的句子很长

他们背后的旋转楼梯下
灭蚊器放出异怪的荧光
烟圈从我们头上升起
在天花板上纠缠，没有声息
　　　　　　　　2005年6月4日



　　　　　Friends and Me (left) in the Cafe on June 1, 2005 (Nanjing)

Note: The Cafe 猫空 is on Shanghai Road, Nanjing, where I used to spend a few afternoons with a couple of friends when this poem was written.
猫空是南京上海路上的一个咖啡馆，我在写作这首诗的时候曾经和几位朋友在那儿度过几个下午和晚上。