New Year’s By the Sea, Spinning Top and Cup | Huang Fan | Granta

New Year’s By the Sea, Spinning Top and Cup

Huang Fan

Translated by Margaret Ross

New Year’s by the Sea

The boiling sea stews the bones of the sunset
No one knows who this soup is for

My room faces the water
All night, I see fireworks draw prayers in the sky

A lighthouse by the sea has no chance to meditate
When boats go blind, it’s got to toss them bright ropes

I left footprints in the sand like I was grateful for something
Right – if it’s spring, we can save on depression

Spinning Top

It disdains caution


Huang Fan

Huang Fan is a poet whose work includes The Eleventh Commandment, The Insomniac Moon, Drifting Colours, Nanjing Elegies, Waiting for Youth to Disappear, Schoolmistress and Wandering through China. His books Reading Disabilities, Sitting Alone and Poetry Writing Class are set to be published in 2024.

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Translated by Margaret Ross

Margaret Ross is a translator and the author of two books of poetry, A Timeshare and Saturday.

More about the translator →