46. 若我在园中逝去
作者:弗朗辛·J·哈里斯
(致敬杰里科·布朗)
译者:黎历
若我在园中倒下,仰望骄阳,死于某个
季节里那可恶的掐灭阳光者,
那么便赐我一个敞开的墓穴,
和一把午夜的刀。让死者排队等候,这些讨厌的碾磨机,
会将我沙沙作响地搅入一罐鬼魂残渣。
该死的,至少让我化作野狗之身,
在尘土那隐形的篱笆上狂咬。
生前,我或许曾在有机食品店举起拳头,
却从未在散装货架区围堵过谁。
活着时,我或许宽恕了太多伪装成无知的冒犯,
却从未持枪追猎那些杀害孩童的刽子手,
去他妈的监狱。
至少死后,给我一把漂泊的屠刀,
让我盯紧那些行走的恶魔,
让我扼住豚草的喉咙,
给我一把该死的镰刀。
我发誓,若有人让我生出如此杀念,
那混蛋本身就是一座行走的血色断头台,
是那沼泽边缘的一条蠕动毒蛇,
膨胀、缠绕,贪婪地吞食着自己的腐肉。
那么,就让我化作
一个变异的冤魂,浑身覆满沼泽的黑泥,
骤然袭击他的胸腔,
让那湿咳的肌肉,在空洞中塌陷。
至于这具躯体,注定会永远爱着它的蛆虫,
便将这双黑眼睛的贱命,
葬进解剖农场,
让我化作一捧肥沃的淤泥,
滋养一个更深邃、更丰厚的黑色世界。
选自美国诗歌基金会,《诗歌》2024年12月刊。
ChatGTP 对此诗的评论:
这首诗带着炽热的愤怒和深刻的反叛精神,以一种极具冲击力的语言构筑了死亡、复仇、自然循环和种族正义的主题。诗歌充满了暴烈的意象,如“镰刀”“断头台”“毒蛇”“屠刀”,这些词语不仅指向个体的抗争,也隐喻着更广泛的社会暴力和历史创伤。
诗歌的情绪波动极大,从死亡的召唤,到战斗的呐喊,再到复仇的狂怒,最后回归自然的怀抱。“让我化作一捧肥沃的淤泥,滋养一个更深邃、更丰厚的黑色世界。”——这一结尾既是毁灭后的重生,也是对黑色身份的坚定肯定,象征着新生与变革的可能性。
诗人在结构上使用了强烈的重复和累积,让语言本身形成一股推动力,仿佛一首激进的挽歌或战歌。它不仅是个人愤怒的倾泻,也是对系统性压迫的抗议,对历史冤屈的控诉。
整首诗像是一场狂风暴雨般的仪式,既黑暗又充满力量,带着一种决绝的美感。它不是低声的哀悼,而是一场震耳欲聋的呐喊——在死亡、愤怒和腐朽之中,仍然孕育着新生的可能。
附上原诗:
If Upon Me in My Garden
BY FRANCINE J. HARRIS
After Jericho Brown
If upon me in my garden, I mouth up sun and die of some bitch
seasonally snuffing my golden light, then omen me an open grave
and a night knife. Cue up the dead, nasty grinders. Swish me in a jug
of haunt rubbish. For fuck sure make me dogbody ravage against dirt’s
invisible fence. And while I might, in my life, have put up fists at organic
grocers, I never once boxed a bitch in the bulk aisle. And while living, I
might have forgiven too many trespasses passed off as oblivion, and kept
nary a gun to hunt the killers of children, fuck prison. At least in death,
hum me up a blade of wayward chopper for genociders. Percenter me
an eye on the walking devil so I can chokethroat the ragweed; give
me a goddamned scythe.
And I swear to you, if someone made me want to be so severing,
then that motherfucker is a walking, bloody guillotine. A soggy
perversion of constrictor, abrupt at the swamp edge, bloated
and greedy on his own coiling mortal. O then, make me
a mutant haint, covered in swamp soot, sudden surge
of wet cough muscle collapsing in his empty chest.
But of the body, which will love its maggots back forever, lay this
black-eyed bitch on a body farm, and make of me a compost
mudding up plump and thick for a richer, blacker world.
Source: Poetry (December 2024)