JOSHUA IP

Joshua Ip is a poet, editor, translator, and literary organiser. He has edited
nine anthologies and written four poetry collections, most recently
footnotes on falling (2018). He co-founded Sing Lit Station, an over-active
literary charity that runs community initiatives including SingPoWriMo,
poetry.sg and the Hawker Prize for Southeast Asian Poetry. joshuaip.com

The poems here are anachronistic translations of classical Chinese
poetry from the Tang and Song Dynasties Dynasties. They are from a
manuscript pending publication with Math Paper Press, working title
translations from the tangish.

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new year's eve

a windy night for fireworks— bursting peonies and palm-shells. they trail away, as if a meteor shower. BMs and Benzes fume and fill the road. horns, then sirens, then a spinning strobe. all night, darting pedestrians and the dance of queues.

here, moths, there, meadowsweet and gilded threads. light-footed laughter wafting into the distance. in the crowd i sought her, a thousand, a hundred degrees. and i turned, and there she was— standing in the lee of the light.


青玉案·元夕【宋朝：辛弃疾】

东风夜放花千树。更吹落，星如雨。宝马雕车香满路。凤箫声动，玉壶光转，一夜鱼龙舞。
蛾儿雪柳黄金缕。笑语盈盈暗香去。众里寻他千百度。蓦然回首，那人却在，灯火阑珊处。






junction of ulu pandan and clementi road

perhaps i have loved the shy grass on the canal embankment
and the black-naped orioles singing from the nearby trees

rush hour, it's raining, and the urgent traffic
and my empty car parked in the middle of the junction


滁州西涧【唐朝：韦应物】

独怜幽草涧边生,
上有黄鹂深树鸣。
春潮带雨晚来急,
野渡无人舟自横。






phillip investor centre

bukit batok, and the flock has flown,
the paths devoid. before a bank of screens,
masked in a ragged singlet, a lone
uncle fishes a feed of wintry static.


江雪【唐朝：柳宗元】

千山鸟飞绝，
万径人踪灭。
孤舟蓑笠翁，
独钓寒江雪。






a dream of sentosa cove

the curtain and the rain undecided,
an idea of spring, no, less than an idea,
should have brought a sweater to this dream.
didn't know i was the guest here,
just kept hitting up the open bar.

if alone, one shouldn't stand at the banister
its unparalleled view of drains and alleys
so easy to wave from, so easy to slip behind.
a gush of fluttering bills— they're going, gone—
rooftops and basements.


浪淘沙令·帘外雨潺潺【宋朝：李煜】

帘外雨潺潺，春意阑珊，罗衾不耐五更寒。梦里不知身是客，一晌贪欢。

独自莫凭栏，无限江山，别时容易见时难。流水落花春去也，天上人间。

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