Untitled, 2013 | Lesley Vance
©Whitney Museum Collection
忘了看
维丝 译
五十年代妈妈坐在书桌前的照片
已放在我的钱包里二十年
相纸褪色，泛黄
波浪边角皱了又扫平
她的裙子领口仔细地折好
脖子角度看起来
就像有人在远方唤她
她是家族里第一个
上大学的人，从克莱蒙特镇
坐巴士上山
当时在医学院上课
黑人学生得收拾笔记，站起来
走过由少至多排列的书桌，走出演讲厅
紧闭的门后，做尸检时
黑人学生不能去看
打开和切开的白人皮肤
刀下，皮下
同质的玄奥
这个世界定义黑人和白人
如何看待和触碰对方
妈妈往后望，身姿未被玷污
每次我打开钱包
她都在那里，熟悉得
都忘了看她一眼
I Forget to Look
The photograph of my mother at her desk in the fifties
has been in my purse for twenty years,
its paper faded, browning,
the scalloped edge bent then straightened.
The collar of her dress folds discreetly.
The angle of her neck looks as though
someone has called her from far away.
She was the first in her family to take
the bus from Claremont
up the hill to the university.
At one point during the lectures at medical school,
black students had to pack their notes, get up and walk
past the ascending rows of desks out of the theatre.
Behind the closed door, in an autopsy
black students were not meant to see,
the uncovering and cutting of white skin.
Under the knife, the skin,
the mystery of sameness.
In a world that defined how black and white
could look at each other, touch each other,
my mother looks back, her poise unmarred.
Every time I open my purse,
she is there, so familiar I forget
to look at her.
诗歌入门
[南非] 嘉贝巴·巴德伦
维丝 译
在社区会堂里为夜间的
诗歌入门课作引介时
一位女子低头看
隔着头发和未脱下的啡色大衣
深深吸一口气，似乎冒着
危险，快快说出
我的男朋友在监狱里，而我在这里
是想学会写信
穿过监狱的铁窗
有人笑了
她缩回大衣里
从里面看我们
第二个星期
她没有回来
这些年我总想起她
想起诗歌为何物
想起她起初
长长的停顿
沉静之前
和之后
这是我的原点
此处诗歌是冒险，是背叛
记起当时的第一个问题：
如何才不会孤单
Poetry for Beginners
In the evening poetry class for beginners
in the community hall during the introductions
a girl looking down behind her hair
and a thick brown coat she doesn’t take off
breathes in deep and risking
something says fast
my boyfriend’s in prison and I’m here
to find out how to write to him
through the bars
and someone laughs
and she pulls herself back into her coat
and from inside looks past us
and the next week doesn’t
come back
and I think of her for years
and what poetry is
I think of her long pause
at the beginning
her silence before
and her silence after
and this is my origin
where poetry is risk, is betrayal
and the memory of the first question
how not to be alone
选自2017年香港国际诗歌之夜出版物《古老的敌意》，由香港诗歌节基金会发行。
相关阅读
香港诗歌节基金会
The Hong Kong Poetry Festival Foundation is a cultural organization initiated by Chinese poet Bei Dao and established in 2017 in Hong Kong. Our flagship event is the International Poetry Nights in Hong Kong (IPNHK), held every other year since 2009. IPNHK has become Asia’s most influential international poetry festival and one of the world’s most successful international poetry events. IPNHK is also a member of the Word Alliance, which brings together the world’s leading literature festivals.
官方网站 hkpff.com
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