“Beast” by Su Shao-Lian

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“Beast”
Written by Su Shao-Lian, translated by Noéll Noelle

I wrote on the blackboard the word “Beast” with its phonetic “shou”. I turned around to face the elementary students, and began teaching my class the meaning of this word. I spent the entire afternoon painstakingly teaching them, but they still did not understand, and kept staring at me, making me feel extremely distressed.

The blackboard behind me is a dark green jungle, and the word “beast” written with white chalk crouching on the blackboard, roaring at me. I picked up the eraser to wipe it off, but the beast ran away into the jungle. I chased after it, searching around until the white chalk debris fully covered the entire podium.

I ran out from the blackboard and stood on the dais, my clothes were torn by the beast with its claws, my nails were bloodstained, and insects were making noises inside my ears. I looked down and to my disbelief, I had turned into a hairy and four-legged vertebrate! I growled: “This is a beast! This is a beast!” All the students were frightened and broke into tears.


Poem in Chinese: 〈獸〉