YANG Chia-Hsien (Taiwan) was born in Kaohsiung. She obtained her doctorate from Department of Chinese Literature of National Taiwan University. She is currently Assistant Professor at the Department of Chinese Literature of National Tsing Hua University as well as the associate curator of Taipei Poetry Festival. Her oeuvre includes poetry collections Breathtaking Civilisation, Your Voice is Full of Time, Werther the Young Lady, Golden Crow; prose collection Flame Tree in Sea Breeze, Yunhe, Magdalene, Rolling Small Volcanoes; as well several literary digests and academic publications.
Waiting for a Postcard from Hong Kong
An era in which homecomings and departures
can’t be determined right away
Tropical vegetation still thrives
gnat-like whispers fly into the air
You say, amid the fireworks that suddenly
burst open, you saw: angels crashing
joyous shouts drowning everything out
Whether or not constellations still
circle around an ancient orbit
consciousness is a bit cool, when a rainstorm strikes
the bookstore’s windowpane without warning
the neon tube is a slowly dissolving rouge
After the festivities, you may feel even more blue
like a half-smoked cigarette butt
placed on the edge of a dreamland, flickering
Time keeps on fermenting, in the mirror
I make out the slight surge of star frost in my hair
Sourness wafts through summer streets
ridges in the glass undulate
We each occupy a corner of the sea, only learning
the outlines of each other’s cities from news headlines
the winds so hesitant…
The postcard you promised
has yet to arrive. It’s like a seagull contemplating
the color of the water on the pier at dusk
What will your handwriting say to me?
Thick fog obscures the route, as though in resistance
a ship’s engine faintly rumbles as it plows through the silence
(Translated by Jennifer Feeley)
楊佳嫻（台灣），台灣高雄人。台灣大學中文所博士，台灣清華大學中文系助理教授，臺北詩歌節協同策展人。著有詩集《屏息的文明》、《你的聲音充滿時間》、《少女維特》、《金烏》，散文集《海風野火花》、《雲和》、《瑪德蓮》、《小火山群》，以及文學選集、學術著作若干種。
守候一張香港來的明信片
一個回歸與出走
均無法被立即決定的年代
熱帶草木依舊蓬勃
耳語如蚊蚋飛翔於大氣
你說，曾在驀然迸開的
煙花中看見：天使墜毀
而歡愉的喊聲剛好蓋過一切
星座是否依舊
沿太古的軌道繞行
意識微涼，當暴雨毫無預警
擊打著書店的窗玻璃
霓虹管是胭脂慢慢溶解
節慶之後，你也許更蕭索了
像半截吸過的煙頭
擱在夢境邊緣，閃爍
時光持續發酵，從鏡中
辨認髮上微微湧出的星霜
夏天街道浮道著酸意
玻璃的稜線起伏
我們各據海角，僅僅能夠得知
新聞標題上彼此城市的輪廓
風向如此猶疑……
你曾許諾的那張明信片
仍未到達。彷彿傍晚的碼頭
一隻鷗鳥凝視水色
你的字跡將對我說些什麼呢
濃霧掩蓋航線，如抵抗一般地
隱約有船引擎隆隆犁開寂靜