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by aerovistae 2778 days ago
Oh man, I'd really have to bend my perception pretty far to interpret this as anything but a reference to suicide, given how many there are among their workers.
4 comments

I think you have a point. It certainly can be interpreted that way -- as a reference to the suicides of his peers. The more I read the his other poems in the original article the more I'm leaning towards the "suicide" take.

But poetry is always more fun to leave things ambiguous. Original words matter -- the hardest parts is to translate poems precisely, and try not to let your interpretation of its meaning overwhelm the original.

People collapse in industrial settings all the time.

But a person jumping from a roof is more similar to a screw falling.

I guess maybe if a person collapsed while working, others might stop working and help. But a suicide jump would be just another thing they can’t intervene in.

This was my immediate impression as well. But it was influenced by the use of the word plunged in place of fell.
But do you remember the stories of suicide nets at foxconn.. I would say most of the poems are about suicide