当代英诗：新墨西哥州的那个文盲

公子重牙

新墨西哥州的那个文盲
作者：加里·芬克

那时候我微积分考试不及格，父亲，
一名维修工，问我是否知道
在新墨西哥州阿拉莫戈多，
他们是如何雇佣清洁工的。
或许是那个镇的名字有什么含义
或许是那时候我已经停止
对除了当下的自我之外的一切思考。
他愤慨地说，“字母F代表你的失败，”而我说，
“那枚原子弹”之后他大声喊道，
“假如你一字不识，工作就是你的了，
新墨西哥州的一个文盲。”

那时候我们在一家餐馆里。
我和那枚原子弹一样大，相差不过几天，
本该成为一名医生，
而不是在医生的功成名就之后来收拾的
永远不知道医生秘密的，
在无知中打扫垃圾的某个失败者。
我唯一可能的是成为一名患者；我唯一
能做的是倾听，当
我生命将如何结束被他人决定之际，
新墨西哥州的一个文盲。

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。

公子重牙

欢迎来访。谢谢。

忍淹留

初读无味，再读就有些趣味了。

公子重牙

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.