Thomas Eisenbeiser grew up on a Michigan farm with cattle sheep and horses. He rode horseback most every day. At age 17 he began traveling and has lived in Russia, Germany, Italy, England, France and Mexico. He got two master’s degrees from University of Michigan and published two books of poems: A Gathering of Rites (1979) and Crafted (1981). In recent years he divides his time between Nanjing and Ann Arbor.

托马斯-艾森拜仁在美国密歇根州的农场里长大，从小与牛羊为伴，以骑马为乐。17岁开始周游四方，曾旅居俄国、德国、意大利、英国、法国、墨西哥。艾森拜仁从密歇根大学获两个硕士学位，曾出版诗集《仪式的搜集》（1979）以及《手艺》（1981），近年来往返于中国南京与密歇根州安阿伯市。

冯冬，1979年生于重庆，南京大学英文系博士毕业，现任教于暨南大学，译过游记《中华帝国纪行》、《亲密接触中国》、小说《蛛网与磐石》等，在《新大陆》等诗刊上发表过作品，与人合著诗集《残酷诗》（即出），主要研究诗歌、精神分析和当代哲学。

Peter Feng was born in Chongqing, China, in 1979. He has received a Ph.D degree in literature from Nanjing University and currently teaches English at Jinan University. He has co-translated A Journey through the Chinese Empire, Intimate China, and The Web and the Rock, and co-written a book of poems Cruel Poetry (forthcoming). His study includes poetry, psychoanalysis, and contemporary philosophy.

Spring Magnolias Nanjing

南京春天的木兰

Magnolias in bloom in the park on the way to school,
Petals of cream and bluish tinted rose
Rising in feathery routes,  fluttering down onto the path
Settling on the stone walkway in fragrant assault
Under tread and biketire, patterning the still white winter grass
Greening in patches;  these cheeks of Magdalen  trees  tall
Narrow barelimbed,  some trunks painted white, some wrapped in hemp,
These different from  the robust spreading crowns one recalls
Dotting the yards back in Michigan and Vermont,  where
They bloom with  fistsized flowers around the first of May, here
In Nanjing these hawkers of Spring stand in stone framed beds
Planted seven paces apart, in mitered granite squares, dirt flush with the walk,
In lines between the two blue pathways, one for bikes, one for walkers,
At even intervals Interspersed with plum, redwood, cedar, willow  and palm
Shading  herds of cannas corralled into S-shaped beds, these magnolias
Seem more fragrant than their American cousins, though it could be my nose,
Scents seem stronger the further one gets from home, as everyone knows.
			

去学校的路上，木兰花开了，
乳黄色花瓣与淡蓝的蔷薇
如羽毛一路飘起，飘落到街上。
芳香袭击着石板路，
被行人和自行车轮踩踏，给冬天的白草
镶上花案，零星的绿色；这些高高的树
消瘦如马格达琳的脸，光秃的枝条。
一些树干漆成白色，一些用麻绳捆起，
与我记忆中的密歇根与弗蒙特的树不一样，
那些更为强健，舒展的树冠点缀着庭院，
五月初就开出拳头大的花。然而在南京，
这些春天的驯鹰者，相隔七步，站在石头园圃中，
斜拼的花岗石广场，肮脏的街道，
夹在两条青灰色的道路之间，一条自行车道，
一条人行道，李树、红杉、香柏、柳树和棕榈树
夹杂其间，荫庇着S形排列的美人蕉。这些木兰
似乎比她们美国的姐妹更芳香，虽然有可能
是我的鼻子，一点不错，离家越远香气越浓。