Prison Anatomy
Pek-êng Koa / in translation by C. J. Anderson-Wu
1. Brows
So you don’t see
The kingpin’s father is also
Living here
2. Eyes
A pair of opaque sunglasses
Making red orange yellow green blue indigo violet
Into pitch black
3. Nose
It is not for breathing
Nor smelling
It is the nozzle tip spurting toward prisoners
4. Mouth
Under the iron official hat
It flatters the world outside, and
Spits to the world inside
5. Ears
They listen to rumors
In the wind or shadow
So even chickens and ducks are purged
6. Stomach
Digesting grilled toads
Souped snakes, or
Stewed weasels
7. Waist
Clank, clank, clank
Handcuff, shackle, baton
Dangling along
8. Hands
Belonging to inferior sculptors
Kneading, pressing and rubbing forcefully
To transform dragons tigers lions and panthers into dogs
9. Feet
Polished black
Warships
For prisoners to gaze up at
10. Shirt
5-star white fabric
Never faded even after
Sixty years
〈監獄解剖學〉
柯柏榮
1. 眉
予你袂看得
皇帝的老爸
蹛佇遮
2. 眼
掛一支烏仁目鏡
紅橙黃綠藍靛紫
一片烏墨墨
3. 鼻
毋是喘氣
毋是鼻味
是噴向犯人的放送頭
4. 喙
框鋼的帽仔下底
一支對外褒嗦
一支對內呸喙瀾
5. 耳
比白賊話較輕
風聲嗙影
雞仔鴨仔掠甲無半隻
6. 胃
當歸鱸鰻
三杯竹雞
紅燒術仔頭
7. 腰
鏗鏗鏘鏘
手銬、跤鐐、警棍
伸跤晃手
8. 手
三流的雕塑家
拼勢搓圓捏扁
將龍虎獅豹捏成狗
9. 跤
拭甲烏金金的
軍艦
犯人上懸的視線
10. 衫
五星級的白色布質
穿六十冬
毋捌褪色
Pek-êng Koa (柯柏榮) is a poet in Taiwanese language, he also teaches poetry writing in Taiwanese language. Having been imprisoned for 17 years with two charges of robbery, Koa’s poetry is often about incarceration as he started learning this long-repressed language and writing with it during his time in prison. Throughout his writing career, Pek-êng Koa has won 37 literature awards.
C. J. Anderson-Wu (吳介禎) is a Taiwanese writer who has published two collections about Taiwan’s military dictatorship, currently she is working on her third book Endangered Youth—to Hong Kong. Her works have been shortlisted for a number of international literary awards, including the Art of Unity Creative Award by the International Human Rights Art Festival. She also won the Strands Lit International Flash Fiction Competition, the Invisible City Blurred Genre Literature Competition, and the Wordweavers Literature Contest.