童年的细节

初冬早上，竟然阳光明媚，而且如此缓慢。阳光下，那些金黄的芒草，乖顺有如重返孩时。

读到家住明尼苏达的诗人路易斯·詹金斯的一组诗。他《波洛尼香肠》和《嘲鸟》，把童年的细节写得如此历历在目：饥饿中的审美，对于一个饥饿的孩子，世界上有什么能比食物更美呢？对于一个青春期的小兽，有什么能比与异类交谈更显现情欲孤独呢？从诗中，我看见了我自己的少年，一只饥饿的，左奔右突的小兽……



波洛尼香肠
路易斯·詹金斯


停车场上有一对年轻人，接吻。
不只是吻，他们看起来好像要活吃了
对方，亲，啃，咬，嘴巴张得
大大的，像小狗玩打架，彼此蛇似的
缠绕。我记得，是的，那
饥饿，那激情的强烈。勾起我某种
对于它怀旧渴望，我怀想的方式，
有时是，对我童年食物的念想。波洛尼香肠
放在白面包上，比如说：一片白面包
加芥末，或奇妙沙拉酱，或加或不加
番茄酱，还得在某处画道线，
放一薄片波洛尼香肠。它有很棒的对称性，
波洛尼香肠的圆形在面包的方形上。接着你
把面包和香肠从中间对折，并在最中心处
咬一口。当你
展开那三明治，你得到一个洞，一个在面包和香肠框架中心
的圈，一个窗口，
一个舷窗，从中你可以看到世界的
一个新的图景。

 （微笑 译）



嘲鸟*
路易斯·詹金斯


我记得，孩时，我有一对金丝雀儿
养在我卧室一个笼子里。我曾想过繁殖
和贩卖金丝雀。我问我众姐妹的一个，是否她
记得它们。但她却记得，它们是
鹦鹉，不是金丝雀。我问另一个姐妹。她说，
她想不起啥金丝雀，但记得
俺对她如何浑蛋。我最小的妹妹不
记得养过鸟儿，但认为我们曾有一个宠物
兔子。我不记得那个。我兄弟认为我们
有过一只会说话的乌鸦宠物。我不记得乌鸦
但记得一度有过一只八哥儿
会说“你好，甜馅饼”，但它属于
别人家的。我的母亲则说，她不曾容许过
在家里养鸟类或任何其它动物。我
记得那雌金丝雀儿如何忽略同类雄鸟
而哀怨地对着一只嘲鸟啁啾，那只嘲鸟兄在
我的窗外唱了整个夏天呐。

（微笑 译）

*嘲鸟，善鸣叫，并能模仿别种鸟的叫声，故名。






Baloney

by Louis Jenkins


There's a young couple in the parking lot, kissing.
Not just kissing, they look as though they might eat
each other up, kissing, nibbling, biting, mouths wide
open, play fighting like young dogs, wrapped around
each other like snakes. I remember that, sort of, that
hunger, that passionate intensity. And I get a kind of
nostalgic craving for it, in the way that I get a craving,
occasionally, for the food of my childhood. Baloney
on white bread, for instance: one slice of white bread
with mustard or Miracle Whip or ketchup-not
ketchup, one has to draw the line somewhere-and
one slice of baloney. It had a nice symmetry to it, the
circle of baloney on the rectangle of bread. Then you
folded the bread and baloney in the middle and took
a bite out of the very center of the folded side. When
you unfolded the sandwich you had a hole, a circle in
the center of the bread and baloney frame, a window,
a porthole from which you could get a new view of
the world.




Mockingbird

by Louis Jenkins


I remember when I was a child I had a pair of canaries
in a cage in my bedroom. I had the idea that I would
raise and sell canaries. I asked one of my sisters if she
remembered them. She remembered that they were
parakeets, not canaries. I asked another sister. She said
she didn't remember any canaries but she remembered
how mean I was to her. My youngest sister doesn't
remember having birds but thinks that we had a pet
rabbit. I don't remember that. My brother thinks we
had a pet crow that talked. I don't remember a crow
but I remember we had a myna bird for a while that
said, "Hello sweetiepie," but he belonged to someone
else. My mother says that she would never have
allowed birds or any other animals in the house. I
remember how the female canary ignored the male
but chirped plaintively to a mockingbird that sang
outside my window all summer long.