Xu Lizhi - I swallowed an iron moon

I swallowed an iron moon
they called it a screw

 

I swallowed industrial wastewater and unemployment forms
bent over machines, our youth died young

 

I swallowed labor, I swallowed poverty
swallowed pedestrian bridges, swallowed this rusted-out life

 

I can’t swallow any more
everything I’ve swallowed roils up in my throat

 

I spread across my country
a poem of shame

 

(translated by Eleanor Goodman)