Ouyang Jianghe Writing Sample

Handgun
(poem by Ouyang Jianghe was translated by Austin Woerner at VSC in September 2009)

you can take a-
part a handgun, break it
in two, into
a hand        a gun

paint the hand black, you’ve got
a faction—
put the gun on a boat: that’s
a means of persuasion

you can take apart a faction
into further partitions
parties
ambitions
you can break it into act, or action—
the world divides in infinite fissions

one eye you aim
at love; the other you ram
into the barrel of a gun
the bullets ogle
you level your nose at your enemies’
parlors: persuasion
becomes sinidextrous.
you take your hand-
gun, shoot into the west—
in the east
a man falls

the Black Hand put on white gloves
gunboats volley in private rooms
in stone, eternal Venus stands
her hands rejecting humanity
from her breasts she pulls
a pair of drawers—
two bullets        a gun

pull the trigger: it becomes a toy
snap
silence