New Prisoner

New Prisoner

written by: Pek-êng Koa

translated by: C. J. Anderson-Wu

You sit in stillness in the “intake cell”
Your eyes are blindfolded by darkness

In the air, the shouts of ox-headed and horse-faced demons
ring loud—rising, falling, long and sharp

Stepping for the first time through a gate of iron bars
you panic, tremble, tiptoe
inch by inch, probing the mysterious
iron curtain

Bodies lie on their sides, one by one
Faces, shriveled masks, one by one
Eyes clouded like dead fish, one by one
Lips drained of blood, one by one

Tens of thousands of iron whips driven by authority
charge at you with the force of massed armies
striking, bearing down
You curl yourself small
at the bottom of a black box marked with a single word
“prisoner”
rehearsing the performance
of surrendering dignity.

新囚

written by: 柯柏榮

你　佇「新收房」靜坐
目睭　被烏暗蒙蔽

空氣中　牛頭馬面的喝聲
響亮　懸懸低低　長長尖尖

初初踏入畫滿鐵枝的窗仔內
你青狂　驚惶　挲跤捻手
慢慢徙步　探入神祕的
鐵幕

一仙一仙倒坦橫的軀體
一具一具焦痡的面罩
一蕊一蕊死魚的目睭
一支一支無血色的喙唇

當數以萬條的威權的鐵鞭
以千軍萬馬之勢 向你
狂打施壓
你　只有勼作一毬
勼佇寫一字「囚」的烏箱仔底
演練　放棄尊嚴
的戲齣