衣想 : 三首時 (Chinese version) - Clothink: Three poems (English version), Presentation and translation by John Minford
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Introduction by John Minford
- 1 See ‘Young amateur fashion models taking part in the Clothink event at the Visual Arts Centre, Hong (...)
1These are three poems from a series of ten written for Clothink, a ‘non-fashion show’, an ‘art-installation’ or ‘happening’, staged by Leung Ping-kwan (PK) in January 1998 in collaboration with the young non-fashion designer Wessie Ling.1 Wessie, who went on in 2007 to write a book entitled Fusionable Cheongsam, is now a well-established cultural historian and visual artist teaching at London Metropolitan University. The Clothink event took place at the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre, as part of the annual Hong Kong Fringe Festival. These poems (the event’s ‘sound-track’) represent the lighter, playful side of the poet’s work. As PK said in 1992: ‘A poet in Hong Kong is by the very nature of things distanced from the grandiose and heroic voice. He is writing like a clown speaking on television, like a cab driver speaking in the front seat, or someone speaking directly to the inner life, or intimately to his friends… The sense of play is a part of me. I use it to resist dead seriousness and self-righteousness, easy answers…’
2
These poems have for the most part never been republished. Only one of them (‘Barbie City’) was included in the comprehensive Taiwan anthology of 2014, and none are to be found in the large Retrospective volume of the same year. They were all printed in the throw-away programme made specially for the ‘event’, a copy of which I have luckily kept. I am glad to have preserved this piece of ephemera, since it captures vividly the ‘be here now’ quality of PK’s life as a Hong Kong poète engagé. Another such event was the joint show with photographer Lee Ka-sing and installation artist Millie Chen Ming-yen at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, in the autumn of 2004, entitled Foodscape. I offer here a selection from Clothink as a corrective to the prevailing but mistaken idea that PK was an exclusively ‘serious’ poet. Typically, a few weeks before the non-exhibition PK roped me in to provide express translations of all ten poems. I involved a talented group of bright young graduate students I was supervising at the Polytechnic University: Sharon Lai, Jasmine Tong, Janice Chan, Connie Chan, Amy Ko and Joanne Tsui.
3
Clothink was one of many occasions on which I was able to observe the way in which PK thought of literature, art and translation as a form of gentle guerrilla warfare, a cultural résistance, part of an ongoing revolution of the imagination! We were on the front line against banality. It was an exhilarating experience. Then a few days later he and I jointly persuaded my teenage daughter Laura to bring along some of her friends from the Hong Kong French Lycée Victor Segalen to act as ‘non-models’ for the show! Some of the city’s leading hairdressers and make-up boutiques (clearly under the delusion that this was going to be a ‘real’ high-class fashion show) sent their people along to transform these happy young girls into convincingly glamorous ‘mannequins’. The ‘models’ paraded most confidently at the Visual Arts Centre before a glittering gathering of journalists and other guests. The girls were dressed in Wessie’s outrageously defiant ‘fashion creations’, consisting largely of ropes, chains and sacks. Meanwhile PK’s strangely mischievous and subversive verses had everyone at the event totally bewildered! Barbie, Irma Vep – what were they doing in a high-class fashion show?
妖獸都市
4愛麗絲在路上開車
兩旁盡是變成妖獸的身軀
穿插總惹來身後的咆哮
好似來自城市內臟的鋼根水泥
有隻毒品叫做快樂
在地底的網絡用針筒傳播
勢力滲入了人類的經濟體系
愛麗絲在車廂裏聽到各種謠言
深夜街頭出現七呎高的蜘蛛女人
天橋底的露宿着無聲地人蒸發
在這歷史時刻妖獸都來參加化裝舞會
能量匯聚在地底隨時要爆發
前面是怪獸
愛麗絲聽見悲愴的聲音呼喊
幻姬,我們曾經相愛的確
但我現在不得不把你殺死!
這感性的聲音令她戰x
平地上特現了許多腫瘤的波濤
病害向海港和山頂xx
蠕而動的是人是妖不可分辨
所有巍峨的建築巍巍可危
愛麗絲依稀記得自己原來有另一個身份
但不知爲什麼被捲入了這迷離的傳奇
以超常的速度逃離變臉的城市
隨時會誤闖黑暗的勢力範圍
妖獸在妖閉空間裏向她發功
因爲他們覺得她是殘餘的人類
轉過彎在光天化日的大街上
人類向她開火說她是戴上面具的妖獸
左彎右拐的里弄是走不出去的迷宮
路人難保不會突然換了一副蛇蠍的頭顱
愛麗絲不知爲什麼自己x入這場撕殺
不知在後面追趕的是愛人還是仇敵
她拔槍向虛空虛空掃射
倒後鏡裏看見追來的殺手有自己的臉孔
她全神加速超前要逃離她自己的城市
Monster City
5Alice drove down a road that was
Lined with bodies
That were changing into monsters,
She wove her way through the city,
Stirring a roar in her wake
As if from the reinforced concrete of its entrails.
A drug called Joy
Was spreading through the underground network
From needle to needle,
Its contagious influence infiltrating the human economy.
Alice heard various rumours from inside her car:
A seven-foot spider woman had been seen stalking the midnight streets;
Under the flyovers street-sleepers
Were quietly vaporizing.
Monsters had chosen this historic moment
To come and join the masquerade.
(Power accumulated underground
May erupt at any time.)
Alice heard a tragic voice cry out:
Yes, my Miss Fantasm,
We did once love one another,
But now I have to kill you!
The emotion in her voice made her tremble.
Tumours had suddenly started to break through the ground in waves,
A virus was spreading from the Harbour up to the Peak.
Hard to tell if the creepy-crawlies were men or ghouls;
Every towering building was in grave peril.
Somehow Alice seemed to recall that she had another identity,
So how had she become embroiled in this murky legend of a world?
Escaping at breakneck speed
From this city in facial metamorphosis,
One could so easily crash straight into the zone of darkness.
The monsters were working on her,
Injecting their miasmic claustrophobia –
They thought she was the sole survivor of the human race.
As she made a turn in the street, in broad daylight,
Humanity fired on her,
Claiming she was a monster with a false human mask.
The winding lanes were a closed labyrinth.
Passers-by might at any time change,
Grow viper-heads.
Alice didn’t know why she was involved in this battle,
Didn’t know whether her pursuer was her lover
Or her foe.
Was that some strange four-legged beast up ahead
Or a python?
As she pulled out her gun and strafed the void.
In her rear-view mirror she could see
That her pursuer,
The one intent on killing her,
Had her face.
She opened up the throttle and accelerated,
Desperate to escape
From her own city.
芭比娃娃
6我是一個芭比娃娃
在一個芭比城市裡
我戴上芭比假髮
每日更換不同的芭比套裝
我有一個塑膠家庭
模型砌成的芭比辦公室
還有一群非常芭比的朋友
在海港照例璀璨的煙火
伴奏下共進燭光晚餐
在芭比節送芭比花
留意連卡佛什麼時候大減價
在快樂時光評說人家的衣著
回家看芭比今日睇真D
喜歡電視裡那個平頭裝
男主角側著頭
今年的情況可以用用兩個字形容
什麼攣直男女什麼是非黑白
什麼救濟金什麼失業賠償
最好不要太複雜
最緊要開心!
我是一個芭比娃娃
走進一個芭比公園
我愛塑膠花朵盛開
水池裡擠滿帆船
滿身披掛龍首獅頭洋紫荊
有芭比徽芭比旗
我是一個芭比娃娃
走進芭比八佰伴
把架上把所有東西帶回家作伴
大量購進無用的餐具
七十款不同鞋子
以便不時
投資股票或者買樓
阿Ken永遠在手提電話的那一頭
7總是說:你依家唔開心,不如甘啦
我地不如搵嘢玩吓啦
總有專好介紹
我洗芭比粉蘭浴
我有超級市場的優惠卡
我參與傳播全城的謠言
今晚去邊度happy下
肥牛火鍋亦都唔差
我是芭比娃娃
每隔不久接受全身整容
我不介意改變形象
最緊要貼着潮流
收起嘟起的嘴脣
收胸收dian減去脂粉味
有什麼相干?如果青春雜誌
也這樣一說
也這樣一來說
我追隨米蘭今季的時裝
外國廣告採頁男人比較有魅力
我愛解放軍夠威武
看見皮靴就心花x放
我是一個芭比娃娃
參觀芭比立法局
人們都好好坐着
討論嚴肅的問題
用芭比的程序
用芭比的言語
我感到很放心
我高高興興地走到街上
我很高興生活在
一個芭比的城市裏
Barbie City
8I’m a Barbie Doll
In a Barbie City!
I wear a Barbie wig,
Put on a different Barbie suit every day.
I’ve got a plastic home,
A pre-fab Barbie office,
And a group of very Barbie friends;
Candle-lit dinners to the accompaniment of
The usual dazzling fireworks display over the harbour.
I send Barbie flowers on Barbie Day,
Jot down the date of the next Lane Crawford sale,
Check out other people’s clothes during Happy Hour,
Then go home to watch Barbie TV, Hong Kong Today.
I really like that actor with the flat haircut in the series,
The way he tilts his head and says in such an authoritative voice,
‘The situation this year can be summed up in two words…’
Straight or gay, male or female; true or false, black or white;
Things like government benefit, unemployment, compensation.
Best not to be so complicated,
‘Being happy’s the thing!’
I’m a Barbie Doll
Walking in a Barbie Park.
I love plastic flowers in bloom,
The pool packed with little sailing boats.
Dragon-head, lion-head, all decorated with the Bauhinia flower;
Barbie Logo, Barbie Flag !
I’m a Barbie Doll,
Walking into a Barbie Yaohan Department Store,
Bringing home everything on the shelves,
Buying lots of useless cutlery
And seventy different pairs of shoes
For every possible occasion;
Investing in stocks, buying property;
Ken’s always at the other end of my cell-phone,
Saying, ‘You’re not happy!
Let’s go party together!’
Yeah, let’s go have some fun!
The papers’ll always put you in the picture.
I’ll take a Barbie Sauna,
Use my supermarket VIP card.
I’ll join in a spread-it-round-the-whole-city rumour.
Where should we have fun tonight?
Shabu shabu sounds rather nice.
I’m a Barbie Doll,
I have all-over plastic surgery from time to time.
I don’t mind changing my image;
The things is to be trendy –
Smaller breasts, smaller hips,
Less and less make-up?
Pull in those pouting lips?
What’s the big deal? If Young Generation magazine
Says so too,
Says so too…
I follow this season’s Milan fashions,
The male models in foreign ads really grab me;
I just love those PLA hunks,
I fancy any man in uniform,
Their leather boots really turn me on…
I’m a Barbie Doll,
Visiting a Barbie Legco.
They’re all sitting there so properly
Debating serious Barbie Problems,
With Barbie Procedures,
In Barbie Language.
I feel totally at ease,
Strolling happily down the street.
I’m so glad to be living
In a Barbie City.
Irma Vep (Chinese version)
9親愛的愛瑪
謝謝你昨夜來訪
可惜你們一早把我迷醉
另我錯了和你們喝酒的機會
今早醒來發覺你用藍色衣夾
在窗框夾上七彩空合:
12 Spinach & cheese triangles
通往露臺的玻璃門掛上白色紙碟
碟上殘留巧克力的圖案
看來你們很開心
吃喝了一個晚上
吃了日本女俠的美味甜品
又吃了法國女俠的蘋果批
Pauillac 90都已喝光
看來搬空房以後
你們發揮高度應變的策略
從塑膠水瓶剪出的酒杯仰飲
用剪出來的拱背小碟盛糖果花生
你在家居的空間裏佈下迷陣
某個暗格豎了一把餐刀
某個角落掛着半杯白酒
紙碟上繪了三個男子的頭像
(是下次行動的對象)
你在這裏那裏豎起小小的旗幟
櫥櫃頂你豎了個空瓶
壓着Lindt Mint合子的上蓋
黏著點點杏仁(是杏仁嗎)
糖果在一夜的狂歡之後消失
有人好心給我留下一顆
(真美味!)在露臺的欄杆旁邊
(你們可是從那兒爬下街上?)
犧牲了的場刊摺出難解的暗語
旁邊是誰留下一縷髮絲?
那可是緊身黑衣皮服那留下的印子?
Irma Vep (English version)
Translator’s Note: The 1996 French film Irma Vep (anagram for ‘vampire’), starring the bewitching Hong Kong star Maggie Cheung (who had begun her career as a fashion model), was directed by Cheung’s then partner Olivier Assayas. It has been described as ‘an evocative and reflexive satire of the filmmaking process that is nonetheless bursting at the seams with an affection for cinema’. (PK himself was a knowledgeable film critic and enthusiast.) In the Assayas film, about the remake of a classic early French film, Cheung plays Irma Vep, a beautiful and deadly Vampire burglar, who stalks the roofs of Paris dressed in a tight, black, latex rubber cat-suit.
10Dear Irma!
Thanks for your visit last night.
It’s a pity I was so bewitched by you all
That I missed the chance to join you for a drink.
I woke up this morning to find you’d used blue clothes-pegs
To fasten empty coloured boxes to the window-frame:
12 spinach and cheese triangles…
A white paper plate was hanging
On the glass door to the balcony,
With a chocolate wrapper stuck to it,
And an almond (was it really an almond?).
Apparently you all had a good time,
Eating and drinking your way through the night,
Eating a Japanese woman-warrior’s delicious dessert,
And a French woman-warrior’s apple pie.
My bottle of Pauillac ’90 was finished.
Apparently once you’d cleaned out the apartment
You implemented emergency measures,
Knocking back the wine from cups made out of cut-down plastic bottles,
Filling little paper bowls with candies and peanuts.
You created quite a maze in the space of my apartment.
In one secret place stood a kitchen knife,
In one corner hung half a bottle of white wine;
On a paper plate a drawing of three heads
(the targets of your next escapade?).
You hoisted little flags here and there,
On the top of the cupboard perched an empty bottle
Holding down a Lindt Mint box
(the chocs themselves had all but disappeared in your night of revelry);
Some kind-hearted fellow left me one!
(It was so delicious!)
Beside the balcony railings
(Is that where you climbed down from to reach the street?)
The cinema programme you’d sacrificed
Had been folded, each crease an incomprehensible secret sign:
Whose lock of hair had been left beside it?
Were those marks left by your skin-tight leather suit?
I murmured my questions to the wall and hazarded a guess,
Played the part of a bungling detective in my own home,
Returning to the scene to look for traces.
I found the glass of water you left for me
(helpful for a hang-over),
And the drop of Banyuls, the sliver of Caprice des Dieux,
And a slice of bread.
(what conscientious thieves you were
To think of my breakfast!)
My greatest gain was the empty wardrobe:
It made me realize I’d never needed that much stuff.
The water tasted so much better
Now everything was gone.
Now I could rediscover my own apartment,
Climb up onto the window-sill and examine the top of the window-frame,
Flick away the dust in the corner.
The whole room seemed indescribably spacious and comfortable,
Now that everything had been taken away.
I quietly watched a little white moth
Hoist its sail-like wings and glide out onto the balcony.
The chains beside the main door,
The scrap of paper napkin held in place with a silver pin,
Strawberry lips spitting out a purple signature:
Irma Vep.
And that gallant gesture, Merci! hastily scrawled in black ink.
I really should thank you
For ransacking my place,
And emptying it,
For giving me the chance to examine more closely
The space I live in.
Notes
1 See ‘Young amateur fashion models taking part in the Clothink event at the Visual Arts Centre, Hong Kong Park, 17 January 1998’, Hong Kong in Transition 1995-2020 https://arthistory.hku.hk/HKinTransition/image_detail.php?id=2278
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梁秉鈞 Ping-kwan Leung et John Minford, « 衣想 : 三首時 (Chinese version) - Clothink: Three poems (English version), Presentation and translation by John Minford », Transtext(e)s Transcultures 跨文本跨文化 [En ligne], 18 | 2023, mis en ligne le 30 décembre 2023, consulté le 10 juillet 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/transtexts/2447 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/12u1z
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