7.12 / Queer Three

Sexual Abuse

Mu Cao

Translated by Aaron Crippen

despairing I wandered the night
in despair

Little Brother come with me
a thin man in white with glasses
extended a sisterly hand
and woke me from my loneliness and pain

he took me to the Happiness Hotel
took my shadow
shrunken on a white bedsheet
the lights tearing gray memories
lights snuffing gray memories

lie in my arms, Little Brother!
here are a hundred spring kisses, Baby!
praise me-Little Angel
abuse me-Daddy!
rape me-my man!
scourge me-Brother!
ride my nude body
treat me like a con

I rode his back hard
I was limp but no tears with despairing claws I
followed his incoherent commands-
broke his thick myopia glasses
knocked out his gold teeth
beat him black and blue-
while he whimpered for Daddy and Mommy
I helplessly followed his commands
like a madman sleepwalking
with hard fingers on a beer bottle
I fucked his hairy ass
as the clock struck zero
his anus tore . . . he wailed like a newborn child

â€œMu Cao (b. 1974) is not a member of the Chinese Writers Association. Heâ€™s been a farmer, street sweeper, truck driver, clothes presser, designer, waiter, cafeteria worker, salon manager, roadside vendor, webmaster, and more. His works include The Age of Transvestites, Sunflower Classics, and novels The Orphans and Orphan Lake.â€ Aaron Crippen is an American writer and translator whose awards include a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and the PEN Texas Literary Award for Poetry. He has published Nameless Flowers: Selected Poems of Gu Cheng.

7.12 / Queer Three