Post Station

These elder sisters
Have been on this line for years
Look—their deft hands and movements are proof enough

Lost youth has married rootless drifting
When they grow old and return home
Another group of young women will arrive
Gradually they too will age under the fluorescent lights

Watching their retreating figures
Only the rows of vacant stools remain
Occasionally, on the assembly line, by workstations,
On discarded scraps of paper—fragmented handwriting remains

In these broken phrases and unspoken thoughts we cannot decipher
We can discern their desire to prove they were once here

​

Ran Qiaofeng, born 1992 in Youyang, Chongqing, of Tujia ethnicity. Co-founded the Migrant Worker Poetry Society with fellow workers in 2009 and began writing poetry. Works published in Poetry Journal, Thatched Hall, Years, Shandong Literature, Migrant Worker Literature, Southern Workers News, Migrant Worker Poets, and 2014 Selected Chinese Migrant Worker Poetry, among other publications. Awards include: 2023 6th Laborer Literature Award – Work of the Year, 2013 New Workers Cup Culture & Arts Competition – Poetry Excellence Award, 2017 National Migrant Worker Literature Competition – Poetry Excellence Award, 2016 Shenzhen Workers Poetry Competition – Excellence Award. Published first crowdfunded poetry collection Drifters' Chronicle in 2015. Returned to Chongqing in 2016 and has been working in the food service industry since.

《漂泊志·流水线插件女工》

这些大姐呀

在这条拉线上多年了

你看，那娴熟的动作与双手足可以证明

走失的青春，嫁给了漂泊

当她们老了返乡时

又来了一群姑娘

渐渐地她们也在白炽灯下老去

目送她们归去的身影

只有那一排排陈列的櫈子

偶尔在拉线上，工位旁，废乱的纸张上，有一些零散的字迹

在这些我们看不懂的断句和心事里

可以看出她们想证明她们曾经来过

冉乔峰，重庆酉阳人，土家族，生于1992。 2009年与工友创建打工诗社并开始诗歌创作，作品散见《诗刊》《草堂》《岁月》《山东文学》《打工文学》《南方工报》《打工诗人》《2014中国打工诗歌精选》，等多种报刊杂志选本。作品曾获，2023第六届劳动者文学奖年度作品奖，2013新工人杯文化艺术大奖赛诗歌优秀奖，2017全国打工文学大奖赛诗歌优秀奖。2016深圳职工诗歌大赛优秀奖，2015年众筹出版首部诗集《漂泊志》，2016年返渝从事餐饮行业至今。