他说，那时候科学家们在制造
毁灭世界的武器，而那些清洁工们
对他们的秘密毫不知情，只是帮助他们倒垃圾。
他蠕动嘴唇，算出了小费
然后把三个25分和两个一角钱硬币
塞进他的盘子下面，等着我站起来。
他把我的成绩摊开留在桌上
因为我必须明白一点：
任何人，即便是该死的打杂小子
都能看出来当时的我是那样无助如同
新墨西哥州的那个文盲。 作者: 公子重牙 时间: 2013-4-3 06:36
The Illiterate in New Mexico
by Gary Fincke
After I failed calculus, my father
A maintenance man, asked me if I knew
The story of how janitors were hired
In Alamogordo, New Mexico,
Whether the name of that town meant something
Or if I'd stopped thinking altogether
About anything but my present self.
"F," he hurled, "is your failure," and I said,
"The atomic bomb" before he shouted,
"If you couldn't read a word, you were hired,
An illiterate in New Mexico."
We were together in a restaurant.
I was as old, within days, as the bomb
And was supposed to become a doctor,
Not clean up after their accomplishments,
Somebody who'd never know their secrets,
A failure sweeping up in ignorance.
All I'd ever be was a patient; all
I'd be able to do was listen while
The way my life would close was decided,
An illiterate in New Mexico.
The scientists, he said, were creating
The end of the world while those janitors,
Excluded from their secrets, emptied trash.
Lips moving, he calculated a tip
Before sliding three quarters and two dimes
Under his plate, waiting for me to stand.
Leaving my grades open on the table
Because I needed to understand that
Anyone, even a goddamned busboy,
Could recognize I was as helpless as
The illiterate in New Mexico. 作者: 忍淹留 时间: 2013-4-17 10:09
初读无味，再读就有些趣味了。作者: 公子重牙 时间: 2013-4-17 10:34
欢迎来访。谢谢。