Cindy Jiang reading ‘How to eat 柿子’

Fight the subzero Northwestern wind
(Don’t get stuck in the window bars)
Wipe off the windowsill dust
关上，先把窗户关上

The wind does it for you
咣！
我刚才跟你说什么来着
把窗户关上！

You don’t hear it
You sneak into the kitchen
Your spoils 
take up your entire hand
Frost covering the skin
droplets of icy silver
You draw a smiley face
lick your finger
别舔！脏死了！哎呀这孩子

You peel, digging
hands numb and sticky
skin under your nails
搁会儿再吃，搁会儿再吃

You don’t wait
You plunge a spoon into the flesh
cold metal sticking to your tongue
frosty sweet
and then bitter behind your teeth
肚子都冻上了
一会难受，别怪我没告诉你

Later,
when your stomach is aching
but so satisfied
you will ponder no deeper meaning
give it no name 

That’s for many years later
when you find this unremarkable fruit
in an unremarkable corner of a supermarket
so far away
The Fresh Food People’s best kept secret
它等了我好久

kaki, хурма, persimmon
柿子

这丫头
怎么在超市都能哭出来

Last night
I dreamt of a bare tree
and a spot of orange over a red wall
我的大舅妈
叫我
先吃饭。

Glossary

柿子
(shí zi)
Persimmon

关上，先把窗户关上:
(guān shang, xiān bǎ chuāng hu guān shang)
Close it, close the window first

咣！
(Guang)
onomatopoeia, equivalent to “bam!”

我刚才跟你说什么来着
(wǒ gāng cái gēn nǐ shuō shén me lái zhe)
What did I just tell you

把窗户关上！
(bǎ chuāng hu guān shàng)
Close the window!

别舔！脏死了！哎呀这孩子
(bié tiǎn! zāng sǐ le! ài yà zhé hái zi)
Don’t lick! It’s so dirty! Aiya, this child

搁会儿再吃
(gē huǐ er zài chī)
Let it sit for a second before you eat

肚子都冻上了
(dù zi dōu dòng shàng le)
Your stomach’s all frozen

一会难受，别怪我没告诉你
(yì huǐ nán shòu bié guài wǒ méi gào sù nǐ)
When you feel unwell later, don’t blame me for not warning you

它等了我好久
(tā děng le wǒ háo jǐu)
It waited for me for so long

kaki: persimmon (French)

хурма: persimmon (Russian)

这丫头
(zhè yā tòu)
This girl

怎么在超市都能哭出来
(zěn mè zài chāo shì dōu néng kū chū lái)
How do you manage to cry in a supermarket?

我的大舅妈
叫我
先吃饭
(wǒ dè dà jìu mā
jiào wǒ
xiān chī fàn)
My aunt tells me to eat (a meal, i.e. have lunch) first.

Cindy Yuqing Jiang is a Chinese writer, performer, and theatremaker living on Wurundjeri land. Her work spans across a range of genres, including poetry, experimental theatre, music theatre, and the other messy and hybrid things in between. Her work has featured in Right Now, Myriad Magazine, and the Melbourne Fringe Festival. She is passionate about playfulness, the grotesque, and the radically rude, in both creation and existence.