Ouyang Yu

Ouyang Yu - China/Austraila

The Story

They are separating
Splitting everything down the middle:
Their money
Their furniture after depreciation
And their son
Although they can’t cut him in half
The way you treat a piece of wood
He can live either way
For a consented period of time
Except that they won’t be able to transplant the tree in their
backyard
Which goes much deeper than their marriage
He said: how much do you say it’s worth? I’ll give you the money
She thought and said: well, let’s just have it cut down and have
done
with it
The marriage gone, why would you want to keep the tree?
He said: fair enough; let’s get someone to cut it down
And we’ll share the cost –
I was jolted back
Into reality
To see her plant another tree

I love sleep

I love sleep knowing it is politically incorrect and culturally inappropriate
To say this but I love sleep not caring whether someone is going to bomb
The rialto tower or the Sydney opera house I love sleep at 46
For I don’t remember anything about myself or what I do I love
Sleep lingering in my bed with a bit of dream here and there but nothing substantial
To merit a mention I love sleep years ago in Wuhan while I was working
As a lorry driver in a shipping yard I had a roommate who loved sleep
The only two things he did was go to work in the factory lifting things and come
Back to sleep in our three-bed room “I love sleep” he said one night as we stood
On the bridge across a nameless creek that ran into the Yangtze River
“for I dream of things, beautiful things that you never will see anywhere in the world”
I began to know that he was an orphan that he had nowhere to go on weekends
Things like that and I felt sad kind of for him and for myself I love sleep
And when I do so I know I am wasting my life knowing that I am wasting my life
Anyway even if I do not sleep I cherish the time immediately after I wake up
For I hear the birds calling out to each other among themselves I do not hear them in sleep
I become wordy soon I’ll stop I love sleep I dream a little although I don’t recall anything this morning I went to a friend’s house to interview him he had a beautiful house that cost him nearly one million dollars off record he talked about his plan
For afterwards he said he would love to lead a xianyun yehe life
I shared his view although I know ours would be different
For that kind of life of leisurely clouds and wild cranes
I love sleep correct me if I am wrong for in sleep I am equal to anyone
Without a fight

Ouyang Yu is a poet, a novelist, and a critic. He was born in the People's Republic of China and migrated to Australia in 1991 after completing an MA in English and Australian Literature in Shanghai. He went on to complete his Ph.D. at La Trobe University, Melbourne, on the representation of the Chinese in Australian fiction (awarded 1995).

Ouyang Yu, the "angry Chinese poet" has shown himself to be uniquely situated and qualified to speak to, not only the two faces of the two tongues he so fluently expresses himself in, but also to the interests and concerns of transnational artists and intellectuals 'caught between different literary, cultural and linguistic traditions.'

His writings, in both English and Chinese, have won him grants and awards for fiction, nonfiction, poetry and translation. His English work has been translated into Polish, Swedish and Chinese languages. He is a postdoctoral fellow at Deakin University and is the founding editor of Otherland, the first and only bilingual journal of Chinese-Australian writing.

More detailes and an extensive information about awards, publications and achievements can be found at: ouyangyu.com