Emptying the Cup
by Su Ruoxi tr. Fan Jinghua
When my body is no longer solid
I would like to flow into my longed-for vessel
Encoffined
No more willful outflow
Only a stripe of my body will be clad with night breeze
I have enjoyed vanity
Having attended his banquet
Eyes waiting on his lips that mumble for a poem
倾杯
苏若兮
当我不再具有实体
我愿意流到我渴望的容器中
殓入
再不主动溢出
裹着一小半的夜风
我爱慕了虚荣
出席他的宴会
盯紧了他沉吟的嘴唇。
Mussels
by Su Ruoxi tr. Fan Jinghua
Mother, you have a U-turn
By the side of that man
You are my cruelest matrix
Leave love, geography, maze and truth to me
For I love
That location which lulls me into deep sleep
Being close is beauty
Being born is beauty
But we do not know we’d knock on the door of misery together.
蚌
苏若兮
妈妈，在那个人的身边
你拐个弯
你，是我残忍的母体
把热爱，地理，迷宫，真相留下
我爱那个
沉睡我的位置
亲近很美
诞辰很美
我们不约而同，敲苦难的房门。
In this group of poems, several themes can be educed. First of all, there is the fundamental theme that a woman writer may intuitively feel. This feel can be understood in terms of Sexton’s being a "witch." Her witchery is not evil, it is not demonism, and she does not need to exorcise. There is no force to attract her to a road of evil destruction. In "Experience," the witchcraft becomes the bed curtains of the god, who is created by her need to be her servant. The god is conceived as both her father and lover. In "Writing," the evoked Him can hold her in his arms. In creative acts, she has no fear of the fall of darkness. This leads to the second theme: creation.
Artistic creation for women may be understood in term of procreation, and apparently the poet is not yet ready to write about child-birth. The moon is still the image of sexual love, whose circle as in "The Broken Moon" is closely related with His coming and going. The moon is related with witch, no doubt. She is certain of its sound of haunting. Of course, the poet has written more than one poem on the moon, and the moon may be just another symbol of the power she hopes to manipulate. In "July," the moon is the field she can harvest, but not only does her own instrument become rusty but also she herself cannot stand still on the moon’s body, resulting in being named by others. The moon may be understood as the object of her evocation and location for her self-empowerment, no matter whether it proves her failure.
Failure may be understood as the third theme in these poems, or her poetry. The poem "The Broken Moon" is essentially about a paradox between empowerment and dis-empowerment. So is "July." The self-disempowerment is also an implied theme in "Emptying the Cup." The speaker starts with a wish to be fluid. That is to say, her self-perception is that she is too angular now. The longed-for vessel can be interpreted as the traditional symbol of matrix or womb, the lullaby of femininity, just as another conventional symbol "pearl mussel" implies. This theme is almost identified with the theme of writing act itself. In "Emptying the Cup," it is the speaker herself who alone has been "waiting on his lips," who does not seem to be quite dissatisfied with her death. In “Mussels,” however, both the mother and the daughter "knock on the door of misery together."
Writing, for the speaker, is the knock on the door of misery, and of course this again returns to the theme of maternity-witch power. Writing is a kind of witchcraft. We can interpret that the daughter is still not a mother and that the mother(ness) is still one essential source for her, like memory. Memory is not only what she has experienced and owned, but also what she shares with her memory. In creation or procreation, the mother-daughter is linked, and while the mother will grow old and "tired," aligning with her shadow only, as shown in "Wood Ear," the daughter can still resort to sexual love and further anticipate the beautiful intimacy and giving-birth as shown in "Mussels."
这一组诗歌可以离析苏若兮诗歌的出几个主题。第一个主题可谓是每个女性写作者，实际上也是所有作者，直觉感到的基本主题，用塞克斯顿的话说，就是巫。这里的巫术并非作恶，不是对于恶魔的崇拜，因此她无须驱魔，也就是她内心并无一股将她牵引到邪恶与毁坏之路的力量。在《体验》这首诗中，那种巫术制成了上帝的床帷，而这个上帝却又是诗歌说话人按照自己的需要创造出来做奴仆的。这上帝是作为自己的父亲和情人构想出来的。在《写作》中，那个被呼唤出来的他也同样可说是上帝-父亲-情人，她将自己“送进他的臂弯”。有了如此创造，她才不会畏惧无论多么空旷的暮色（《体验》）。这就引入了第二个主题：创造。
艺术创造与女性而言，是很容易联系到生命创造的，不过显然苏若兮还没有准备好写作这一点。因此，在她的诗歌中，月亮主要还是作为性爱的意象，与月亮的周期紧密联系的是他的来去，如《破月亮》所暗示的。月亮与女巫的联系由来已久，在《破月亮》中，说话人“确定他来我心里作祟的声音”。当然，苏若兮也写了不知一首有关月亮的诗歌，月亮也有不同的象征，其中之一就是象征着她想要控制的权力。在《七月》一诗中，月亮是她可能收获的田野，但是在此不仅她的工具生锈了，而且她连自己都站立不稳，最终落得被他人命名的结局。然而，无论月亮证明了她的努力多么失败，月亮本身仍然是她召唤的对象和自我授权的场点。
失败可说是她诗中的另一个主题。说到底，《破月亮》是有关授权与丧权的悖论。《七月》也是如此。自我失权也是《倾杯》的一个主题。此诗开始，说话人希望自己是流体的，也就是说，她自我感觉是此时的她太过棱角分明、太坚实了。她所渴望的容器自然可以根据传统理解为母体或者子宫、女性特质的摇篮，正如另一个传统象征“母贝”所暗示的一样。这一主题几乎可以和写作主题一直起来。在《倾杯》中，说话人独自“紧盯了他沉吟的嘴唇”，似乎并没有因为自己的死亡而有多少遗憾。在《蚌》则是母女两人不约而同地“敲苦难的房门”。
写作，对于说话人来说，就是敲苦难的房门，这当然又要回到母性-巫婆力量。写作便是一种巫术。只是此刻的说话人似乎还不是一个母亲，因此母亲-母性依然是她一个最根本的源泉，这犹如记忆一样。记忆，不仅仅是她体验和拥有的，而且也是她和母亲分享的。在创造或者生育中，母女关系得以直接相连。当母亲慢慢变老，疲倦，与自己的影子相依，如《木耳》中所写的那样，女儿则还可诉诸性爱，从而预期“很美”的“亲近”和“诞辰”。
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