Three Witches

Zhai Yongming
     trs. by Sophia Kidd

the stakes stand   but the witches have fled
night is complete   a cold lonely grave
the moon has also run off   under dark cloud cover

voices twitter
tossed and scattered silver light
concise dialogue   a cat’s cry
one dry voice
as if about to be lit by match
telling yesterday’s story
of murder and ruin
voice spasms   larynx rasps
he desperately scrapes out words
to tell us of a general and his whore
how they were together
there’s another sound   neither male nor female
a thin and old tone   as if a mumble
Blackbeard rubs his hands   making bits of predictions
everything is of old    everything
will come around again

prophecy entwined in Blackbeard’s night
passed down for ages   like today
the witch’s stake has become a dragon chair at the center of the
world
an earth-shaking conspiracy covers the world
flames are everywhere   lynchings and viruses spread
east west north and south
invisible chaos   so loud we don’t hear
this is an age that cannot be predicted
although the witch has not gone far   the script and stage
have grown dull and boring
the plot and performance belong to the audience
the ending will open forth   or come to an abrupt end
until i’m immersed   i go down with doomsday
the world is see-through   tho light is faint
witches   never go far
their throats still itchy
swallowing all kinds of ominous
because death never leaves us
because the road ahead cannot be predicted