The clamor of the dead on the wall
spin in the lobes of my lungs
the vault of heaven’s many
gears: corpulent
Leviathan of my soul,
covered in knifepoints, making the heavens
rain down iron nails. Eternal light
strikes upon the earth’s altars.
Lord, I am foolish,
I am suffering, and my body,
like a spoon, here on this earth, sweetly scoops out
my brain.
“‘我要走向上主的祭台'” © Li Hao. By arrangement with the author. Translation © 2019 by Eleanor Goodman. All rights reserved.