Born in London in 1943 in a family of musicians. He has lived in Italy, Greece, the USA and Yugoslavia. He deals equally with historical and political material, with inner worlds, and with relationships and everyday life. In the 1970's, he founded and ran the international Cambridge Poetry Festival. His work has been translated into 18 languages.

李察-本思于1943年生于伦敦的一个音乐世家。他曾旅居意大利、希腊、美国和南斯拉夫。他在诗里广泛地处理了历史和政治、内在世界、人际关系和日常生活等课题。他在1970年创办了剑桥国际诗歌节。其作品已被译为18种语言。

陈志锐，1973年生于新加坡。曾求学新加坡、台湾及英国，现为剑桥大学博士生，研究现当代中文诗歌。志锐曾出版6本文学创作，并获得2006年新加坡杰出青年奖（文化艺术）。

Born in Singapore in 1973, Chee Lay Tan has studied and lived in Singapore, Taiwan and United Kingdom. With six titles of creative writings, he was awarded the Singapore Young Award (Culture and Arts) in 2006. He is currently researching in Chinese Modern Poetry at Cambridge University.

Manual: the first 20

手稿：首20

1

Here is a girl with her fists in her eyes and here 
another with a thumb in her mouth and here yet another
with head sunk deep in the bowl of her hands
as if they had all been deafened in a catastrophe
stilled and frozen in stone

Their gleaming skins are pearly under the moon
their foreheads have been branded by starlight
or perhaps lashed by the tail of a comet
their tunics are slightly soiled and torn and
their hands will never pick up a comb again

2

These hands touch things that are not things at all 
memories dreams absolutions victories reflections
these hands also repeatedly pick such things up 
responsibilities disadvantages obligations loyalties
take them on take them up refuse to let them go

Regardless of disputation dismissal attack and 
despite ageing and the gnawings of doubt and pain 
these hands are capable of latching and indeed clinging 
on stubbornly to certain things that are not things at all 
that nevertheless can seem more important than life
			

1

此处一少女在眼中握拳而此处
另一口含拇指而此处还有另一
埋首于张开如碗的掌心中
仿佛她们皆在灾难中变聋
僵化成石

月色下其肤隐约如珍珠
额首印着星光
或被彗星的尾巴扫过
她们束腰的外衣已污秽撕裂
他们的手将永不再举起梳子

2

这手抚摸非物之物
记忆梦想赦罪胜利反省
这手也再三拾起
责任感不利条件义务效忠心
承担它们占据它们且拒绝放开他们

无论争辩遣散攻讦而且
即使岁月老去且疑惑和疼痛蚀人
这手却有能够顽固地占据并紧附在
甚至比生命更重要的
非物之物上