James McMichael is the author of Capacity (2006), a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award in Poetry; The World at Large: New and Selected Poems (1996); Each in a Place Apart (1994); The Lover's Familiar (1978); and Four Good Things (1980). His honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Foundation Writer's Award, the Arthur O. Rense Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Shelley Memorial Prize from the Poetry Society of America. He is professor of English and comparative literature at the University of California at Irvine.

詹姆士-麦克迈克尔著有五部诗集, 其中《能力》获得2006年美国国家图书奖。他还获得古根汉诗歌奖，白垩粉作家奖等多个奖项。他现为加州大学尔湾校区英语及比教文学教授。

Yan Zhou was born in Shanxi. She graduated from the Chinese Department of the Northwest University in China. She works as an editor and translator.

周焱，又名周琰（笔名）。1970年生于陕西，长于陕西。毕业于西北大学中文系，自学英语、法语，从事编辑、翻译工作。

Each in a Place Apart

各适其所

The small, pretty woman at the station.
Where would she sit? Eager, tanned and brash, a solider
Followed her to the wide rear seat, I followed too but 
Stopped, tried not to listen. I was fourteen. Incredibly,
She moved. Could she sit with me? She was on her way
Home form her sister's, she'd been there while her husband
Closed things up in Fresno, where they'd lived before.
Did I like Utah? She did and didn't, and why.
My answers to her reasons spared me the tight
Stultifying fear that I would touch her, her hand was
There but I wouldn't touch it, I could breathe, I managed
Even to turn toward her when she talked. We went on to
Families, mine first, her questions intimate and long,
She never betrayed it if she thought me young
But she wasn't flirting. I wasn't confused, I knew
Right where I was with her: I was lost. It was getting
Dark outside and we were hungry. We brought sandwiches in
St. Georges. Backed in the bus, she said she hadn't
Slept well the night before, I said she should put her
Head on my shoulder if she wanted to. A quick pleased
Hum in the throat as she skewed toward me, nestled,
And complied. Past Las Vegas, where she woke a little,
Lifted it and let it rest, her head
Stayed on my shoulder. She slept. That was what mattered.
My Virgil was to know that I could leave and not disturb her.
She held me just above the elbow with her left hand.
Wanting more and more to thank her and to say goodbye, I
Knew she'd sleep beyond my stop and wake and think about me
Mostly that I must have left.
			

在车站的那个娇小，美丽的女人
她会坐在哪儿？一个士兵，急不可待，黝黑粗鲁
跟着她走到了宽敞的后座那儿，我也跟着
但又停下来，试着不去听。那时我十四岁。难以置信，
她起来了。她会和我坐吗？她是从她姐姐那里
回家去，她一直呆在那里而她的丈夫
在弗雷斯诺收尾，他们以前住在这边。
我喜欢犹他州吗？她喜欢又不喜欢，为什么。
针对她的理由我的回答解除了让我透不过气来
呆若木鸡般的会去触摸她的恐惧，她的手
在那儿但我不会去碰，我可以呼吸，我甚至
设法在她说话时转过去对着她。我们继续说
家庭，先是我家，她的问题又长又亲密，
她一点也没表露出觉得我很年轻
而她一点也不挑逗。我也没有晕头，我知道
明明白白，我和她在什么位置：我着迷了。外面
变黑了我们也饿了。我们在圣乔治
买了三明治。回到巴士，她说头一晚
她可没睡好，我说如果愿意
她可以把头放到我肩上。她的喉头
高兴地嗯了一声然后她靠向我，窝着，
并放松下来。经过拉斯维加斯，她醒了一下，
抬起又放下，她的头
歇在我的肩膀上。她睡着了。只有这是重要的。
我的维吉尔将会知道我可以离开而不惊动她。
她的左手在肘部上面一点抓着我。
越来越想谢谢她然后说再会，我知道
她会睡过我下车的地方然后醒来想着我
大概是想着我已离去。