Kim Addonizio has authored four poetry collections, most recently What Is This Thing Called Love. Her previous collection, Tell Me, was a National Book Award Finalist. She has received numerous awards including two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Her other books include a novel, Little Beauties, from Simon and Schuster.

金-阿多尼诺是四部诗集的作者，最新出版的有《被称之为爱情的是什么》。她的诗集《告诉我》获美国国家图书奖。阿多尼诺曾荣获多种荣誉和奖项，其中包括两次获得美国艺术捐赠基金奖和古根海姆奖。她还是小说《小美人们》的作者。

老哈，原名李小庆，1960年生于中国成都，现定居美国内华达，以读诗、译诗、写诗为人生趣事。

Poet and translator. Under Chinese pen name Laoha, he translates and writes poems both in English and Chinese. He was born in China in 1960 and now lives in Northern Nevada, USA.

Verities

千真万确

Into every life a little ax must fall.
Every dog has its choke chain.
Every cloud has a shadow.
Better dead than fed.
He who laughs, will not last.
Sticks and stones will break you, 
and then the names of things will be changed.
A stitch in time saves no one.
The darkest hour comes.
			

每个生命里总会掉进那么一柄小小的斧头
每只狗都有卡它脖子的链条
每朵浮云都有它自己的阴影
死了比被喂养着好
那些放声大笑的家伙们长不了
棍棒和石头最终会将他们砸碎
那以后所有一切的名字都会随之而改变
就算是及时缝上那么一针也救不了谁
最黑暗的时刻来了
			

Mermaid Song
for Aya at fifteen

美人鱼之歌
——为阿雅15岁而作

Damp-haired from the bath, you drape yourself 
upside down across the sofa, reading, 
one hand idly sunk into a bowl
of crackers, goldfish with smiles stamped on. 
I think they are growing gills, swimming 
up the sweet air to reach you. Small girl, 
my slim miracle, they multiply.
In the black hours when I lie sleepless, 
near drowning, dread-heavy, your face 
is the bright lure I look for, love's hook 
piercing me, hauling me cleanly up.
			

浴后的头发还是湿漉漉的，你围着浴巾
倒躺在沙发上，一边读书，
一边懒洋洋地把手伸进碗里，
一碗的薄脆饼干，印有微笑的金鱼。
我想他们正在长鳃，向上游来，
要到甜蜜的空气里来找你。小姑娘哦，
我亭亭玉立的奇迹， 他们会倍增。
在黑色的钟点里，我躺在那儿，毫无睡意，
几乎要淹死，沉重的恐惧感，你的脸
是明晃晃的诱饵，正是我所寻找的，爱的钩子
穿透了我，又拖又拉的，弄得我一干二净。
			

"What Do Women Want?"

女人想要什么？

I want a red dress. 
I want it flimsy and cheap, 
I want it too tight, I want to wear it 
until someone tears it off me. 
I want it sleeveless and backless, 
this dress, so no one has to guess 
what's underneath. I want to walk down
the street past Thrifty's and the hardware store 
with all those keys glittering in the window, 
past Mr. and Mrs. Wong selling day-old 
donuts in their cafe, past the Guerra brothers 
slinging pigs from the truck and onto the dolly, 
hoisting the slick snouts over their shoulders. 
I want to walk like I'm the only 
woman on earth and I can have my pick. 
I want that red dress bad.
I want it to confirm 
your worst fears about me, 
to show you how little I care about you 
or anything except what 
I want. When I find it, I'll pull that garment 
from its hanger like I'm choosing a body 
to carry me into this world, through 
the birth-cries and the love-cries too, 
and I'll wear it like bones, like skin, 
it'll be the goddamned 
dress they bury me in.
			

我想要一件红礼裙。
我要它又轻又薄又便宜。
我要它特别紧身，我要穿着它
直到哪天有人把它从我身上剥下来。
我要它露肩又露背，
这样，就没有人会去猜
在这礼裙下面有什么。我要
走在街上，路过那些便宜货商店，
路过那些钥匙串闪亮的五金店，
路过那些卖隔夜甜面食的夫妻店，
路过高举着猪头上肩
飞快地从卡车将猪卸到
小推车上的圭厄纳兄弟身边，
我要走出我是全球仅有的女人的姿态，
一切都得由我随便挑选。
我好想要那件红礼裙。
我要用它来证实，你对我
怀有的最深的恐惧就是，
除了我想要的东西之外，
我对你一点都不在意。
我一旦找到那套服装，我会
把它从衣架上拉下来，好似我选定了
自己来到这个世界的身体一样，
经过新生的哭喊，经过爱的哭喊，
我会把它当作自己的骨头、
自己的皮肤那样给穿上，它将会
是我入土时那件该死的礼服。
			

Salmon

三文鱼

In this shallow creek
they flop and writhe forward as the dead 
float back toward them. Oh, I know

what I should say: fierce burning in the body 
as her eggs burst free, milky cloud 
of sperm as he quickens them. I should stand

on the bridge with my camera, 
frame the white froth of rapids where one 
arcs up for an instant in its final grace.

But I have to go down among 
the rocks the glacier left 
and squat at the edge of the water

where a stinking pile of them lies, 
where one crow balances and sinks 
its beak into a gelid eye.

I have to study the small holes 
gouged into their skin, their useless gills, 
their gowns of black flies. I can't

make them sing. I want to, 
but all they do is open 
their mouths a little wider

so the water pours in 
until I feel like I'm drowning. 
On the bridge the tour bus waits

and someone waves, and calls down 
It's time, and the current keeps lifting 
dirt from the bottom to cover the eggs.


Note: Verities was first published in Poetry, Mermaid Song, 
"What Do Women Want?" and Salmon were first published in Tell Me.
			

在浅浅的溪流里，
他们一路扑腾向前，
此时那些已经死去的同类们

正朝着他们漂来。哦，
我知道我该说： 鱼卵从体内迸出时
她的身体剧烈燃烧，

星云般的精子是他在授精。
我该站在桥上，用相机取景，
摄下在激流的白色泡沫中，

鱼弧身上跃那瞬间所显示的优雅。
可我得下去，去到冰川时期
遗留下来的石头当中，

蹲在有一大堆臭死鱼的水边，
一只乌鸦正颤悠悠地站在那儿
啄着一只冰凉冰凉的眼。

我还得仔细研究那些
深深陷入他们皮肤里的小孔，
他们无用的鳃，他们

带黑色拉链的长袍。
我无法让它们歌唱。我好想
那样做，可它们所能做到的

只是张大嘴，水就那样灌了进去，
直到我感到自己要被淹死。
桥上，旅行车在等，

有人挥手喊，到时间了。
激流不断地冲刷起溪底的泥土，
覆盖上那些鱼卵。


注：《美人鱼之歌》, 《女人想要什么？》《三文鱼》原载《告诉我》。
《千真万确》原载《诗》。经作者授权翻译。