得一忘二 译
詹姆斯·泰特（James Tate, 1943-2015）生于密苏里州堪萨斯城，出版过20多部诗集，获得过美国国家图书奖、普利策奖、威廉·卡洛斯·威廉姆斯奖、华莱士·史蒂文斯奖等。他曾在多所大学任过教，但在马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校任教长达五十年。
他23岁还在读研时，第一部诗集The Lost Pilot《丧生的飞行员》（1967 年）入选耶鲁大学青年诗人系列，题诗指他二战期间执行轰炸任务丧生的战斗机飞行员父亲。泰特写了很多以人为中心的叙事诗（通常比较长，所以我没有翻译，我只选几首短的，也能反映他的风格）。用他自己的话说，他作品中有一个统一元素：“我的角色……大多数时候他们都遇到了麻烦，他们正试图寻找某种生活。”
他的诗被不同人评论为悲剧的、喜剧的、荒诞的、讽刺的、充满希望的、阴魂不散的、孤独的、超现实的。他在《巴黎评论》访谈中说：“我喜欢我的那些幽默诗，但我更愿意让人心碎。如果我能在同一首诗中做到这两点，那就最好了。如果你读诗开始部分笑了，而到结束时我让你就差哭出来，那才是最好的。”
他的诗通常比较长（和这儿的《画夜家》有点类似，但长好多），整页不分段的长诗行，虽说也是他的独特风格，但翻译起来有点累，我译了几首短的，希望也能反映他的风格。
《木腿男越狱记》
装了一条木腿的男子越狱。被抓住。
他那条木腿被拿走。他每天必须
翻过一座很高的山，游过一条很宽的河
才能到田里，他必须用干一整天活，
一条腿。这情况持续一年。圣诞晚会上，
他们把腿还给了他。可现在他不想要了。
他已把越狱计划筹划好了。只需要
一条腿。
Man with Wooden Leg Escapes Prison
Man with wooden leg escapes prison. He’s caught.
They take his wooden leg away from him. Each day
he must cross a large hill and swim a wide river
to get to the field where he must work all day on
one leg. This goes on for a year. At the Christmas
Party they give him back his leg. Now he doesn’t
want it. His escape is all planned. It requires
only one leg.
《画夜家》
有人打电话报告说，她看到
一个男人在池塘边的黑暗中
画画。一辆警车被派去调查。
两名警官拿着很大的手电筒
绕着池塘走了一圈，但没发现
任何可疑之处。较年轻的警官
叫哈彻，他问约翰逊：“你认为
他在画什么？”约翰逊看起来
也很困惑，回答说：“画黑暗，
真蠢。他还能画什么？”哈彻
伤了自尊，说：“黑暗中的青蛙，
黑暗中的睡莲，黑暗中的池塘。
黑暗中存在的东西不比光明中
存在的少”。约翰逊顿了一下，
很气恼。然后哈彻补充道：“我
倒想看看。见鬼，我甚至可能会
买一幅。也许还有更多，我们
还不知道。毕竟，我们是警察。
我们需要知道。”
The Painter of the Night
Someone called in a report that she had
seen a man painting in the dark over by the
pond. A police car was dispatched to go in-
vestigate. The two officers with their big
flashlights walked all around the pond, but
found nothing suspicious. Hatcher was the
younger of the two, and he said to Johnson,
"What do you think he was painting?" Johnson
looked bemused and said, "The dark, stupid.
What else could he have been painting?" Hatcher,
a little hurt, said, "Frogs in the Dark, Lily-
pads in the Dark, Pond in the Dark. Just as
many things exist in the dark as they do in
the light." Johnson paused, exasperated. Then
Hatcher added, "I'd like to see them. Hell,
I might even buy one. Maybe there's more out
there than we know. We are the police, after-
all. We need to know."
《海湾里的单桅帆船》
海湾里的单桅帆船用一种小瓶子的语言
交谈，它们的笑声
是这本书中最难懂的数字，
一种席卷，一种滚涌
犹如睡梦的暴戾之旅——
它们开始燃烧，
就像梦境底部枯黄的叶子。
它们现在无法入睡了，这完全不可能。
像装满秘密的花园一样低语。
Sloops in the Bay
The sloops in the bay are talking in a little bottle
language, their laughter
is the most difficult number in the book,
a sweeping, a rolling
like the bilious voyage of sleep—
They are starting to burn
like the yellow leaves at the bottom of a dream.
They can't sleep now, it would be quite impossible.
Whispering like a garden of secrets.
《教猴子写诗》
教猴子写诗
不会费多大劲：
先把他捆在椅子上，
再把铅笔绑在他手上
（纸已用图钉钉好）。
然后，蓝尖博士俯身靠近
他肩膀，在耳边低声说：
“你朝这儿一坐，看起来像神。
你为什么不试试写点什么呢？”
Teaching the Ape to Write Poems
They didn't have much trouble
teaching the ape to write poems:
first they strapped him into the chair,
then tied the pencil around his hand
(the paper had already been nailed down).
Then Dr. Bluespire leaned over his shoulder
and whispered into his ear:
"You look like a god sitting there.
Why don't you try writing something?"
