[美] 稻田房雄诗选
得一忘二 译
劳森•稻田房雄Lawson Fusao Inada是第三代日裔美国人，生于1938年，是第一个在美国出版诗集的亚裔。二战期间，他们全家被关在集中营里（美国怀疑所有日裔都可能通敌，因此将在美的日裔全都关起来），辗转于加利福尼亚、阿肯色和科罗拉多的多个集中营。他诗歌的一个重要主题便是集中营的生活与记忆。他的写作深受两方面的影响：爵士乐，日本俳句。他的诗歌句子非常短，节奏活泼，但是要么写得很长，几百行，要么写得很短，像日本的俳句和短歌。他是美国俄勒冈州现任桂冠诗人(2006-8)，前一任桂冠诗人斯坦福德William Stafford死后一直空着。下面的诗歌选自他的两本诗集《划出界线》(1997年) 和《集中营传说》(1993年)。
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素质
劳森•稻田房雄
在老人身上
看到你最注重的
各种素质
并且因为
你父亲在场
而感到受宠若惊
选自《划出界线》(1997年)
Consider the qualities
Lawson Fusao Inada
Consider the qualities
You most admire
In an elder
And be blessed
With the presence
Of my father.
from Drawing The Line (1997)
地方不错
劳森•稻田房雄
养老院外，
树荫下，
在轮椅上休息，
父亲说，
“这地方不错”。
我说不准
他的意思是
那个养老院
总体而言，
还是那片
荫凉的空地，
有小鸟欢鸣、
泉水流转、
春风轻拂，
或这个世界。
选自《划出界线》(1997年)
A Nice Place
Lawson Fusao Inada
Outside the rest home,
resting in his
wheelchair in the shade,
my father said:
"This is a nice place."
And I couldn’’t tell
if he meant
the rest home
in general,
the shady space
with the birds
chirping, fountain
flowing, spring
breezes blowing,
or the world.
from Drawing The Line (1997)
祖母
献给奶奶Miju Inada和外婆Yoshiko Saito
劳森•稻田房雄
奶奶教会了我用筷子和日语，那是
我使用叉子和英语之前，除此之外，
我和她之间实在没有多少关系。
事实是，我的奶奶，带着那些旧式
作风，甚至可说是一种铺张的资源，
能令人不辨真幻，心思暂离身体。
例如，本是雨天被困在木板房的
一间屋里，要将无聊消磨在我们日常
居住的阿肯色州集中营，而她会说：
“神武的雷公公威力无比。
你听。他打雷发火，你可得小心。
要不他会派闪电下来抓住你的肚脐！”
又如，在科罗拉多的一个宁静夜晚，
走向冲凉房的半路上，她会驻足，
站在暖洋洋的沙上，自言自语：
“啊，月亮圆了！ 孙儿，仔细瞧。
月亮还是那一颗，故事也不会变。
两只白兔拿着木槌正在舂米。”
时间过去了。奶奶过去了。我见识了
那时以来的事实。然而雷暴雨时，我会
感到一次惊颤，在某些夜晚的静谧中，
如果用对了筷子，我便可以和兔子
一起吃饭，夹起它们散落的米粒。
选自《划出界线》(1997年)
Grandmother
Lawson Fusao Inada
for Grandmothers Miju Inada and Yoshiko Saito
Except for the fact that Grandmother taught me
chopsticks and Japanese before forks and English,
my relationship with Her wasn’’t all that much.
As a matter of fact, Grandmother, with Her old-
fashioned ways, was actually somewhat of an extra-
vagant source of confusion and distraction.
For example, just to waste time on a rainy day
in a boring barrack room in our ordinary
concentration camp in Arkansas, She’’d say:
"The Great God Thunder is very powerful.
Listen to Him. When He storms, be careful.
Or He will send Lightning to take your navel!"
Or, on just another quiet night in Colorado,
on the way to the shower house, She may pause
in the warm desert sand to simply say:
"Ah, the Full Moon! Look closely, Grandson.
It’’s the same Moon, and the same Story.
’’Two Rabbits with Mallets Pounding Rice.’’"
Time passes. Grandmother passes. I’’ve learned
the facts since. Still, in some storms I feel
a twitch, and in the still of certain nights,
with the right chopsticks, I can eat with
the Rabbits who have scattered all the Rice.
from Drawing The Line (1997)
集中营
劳森•稻田房雄
“Hello，你是不是劳森？我是罗斯福总统。你给我听好，孩子，我们正在和日本打仗，因此你和你的家人将被送进集中营。” 这个电话从未打来，但效果仍然一样。过了三年，总统走腿，而我们还关在营中。
从此之后，我们再没走出那场经历——它一直如影相随。于是我经常琢磨：这到底意味着什么？历史提供了线索：美国集中营其实构成了美国经历，有着不同的模式、不同的关联；还可说，这里有诸多国际枝节要加以考虑，可以追溯到1854年的菲尔莫总统，以及日本的“打开门户”（事实是，日本才是哥伦比亚航行的目的地，那时叫做“支邦古”）。
当然，历史还是有些模糊，仅仅知道一些史实并不能令人满足。我们的生命比事实更多。因此你可以说，我对史实有点小题大做——说我就集中营这事不依不饶，放在光天化日之下，还要把它举得很高。
问题是我发现了什么？我期望发现的也不过是：人性的侧面有多少，人类的境遇又如何。
选自《集中营的传说》(1993年)
（译注：这首散文诗的节奏非常具有音乐性，因此我在翻译的时候，为了可诵读，进行了一点点字面上的调整。）
Camp
Lawson Fusao Inada
"Hello, Lawson? This is President Roosevelt speaking. Now, as you may know, son, we’’re at war with Japan, so I’’m going to have to put you and your family in camp." That phone call never came, but the effect was the same. And three years later, when the president died, we were still in camp.
We’’ve lived with the experience since---on a continual basis. And I’’ve often wondered: What does it all mean? History offers clues: The American camps are part of the American experience, with many patterns and connections; also, there are international ramifications to consider, going back at least to President Fillmore in 1854, and the "opening" of Japan. (Actually, Columbus was heading to "Cipangu," Japan.)
Still there’’s a remoteness to history, and to simply know the facts is not always satisfactory. There’’s more to life than that. So you might say I’’ve taken matters into my own hands---taken the camp experience in my hands, stood in the sun, and held it up to the light.
What did I find? What I expected to find: Aspects of humanity, the human condition.
from Legends from Camp (1993)
阿玛奇上空的圆月之传说
劳森•稻田房雄
据说是这样的，
阿玛奇的命名源于
一个印第安公主——
可不是等闲的女流——
她在上游淹死，
在一个溪谷，
死于沙溪大屠杀。
她的骨头顺流漂下，
漂到了集中营的所在。
圆月？
它和这个传说毫无关系。
它只是挂在那儿，
朗照四方而已。
选自《集中营的传说》(1993年)
The Legend Of The Full Moon Over Amache
Lawson Fusao Inada
As it turned out,
Amache is said to have been named
for an Indian princess---
not a regular squaw---
who perished upstream,
in the draw,
of the Sand Creek Massacre.
Her bones floated down
to where the camp was now.
The full moon?
It doesn’’t have anything to do
with this. It’’s just there,
illuminating, is all.
from Legends from Camp (1993)
下面这首诗被美国诗人Kevin Young凯文•扬作为压卷之作选入“常人图书馆”Everyman’s Library诗人袖珍系列的《爵士诗选》Jazz Poems (2006年)。编者在前言中以这首诗作为例证，说：极致时的爵士乐能够提供一种救度。
旅
劳森•稻田房雄
迈尔斯在码头上等，
纸袋中装着小号。
女主人很冷——
我偷来的栀子花戴在她发间
被寒风抽打。
我们很寒酸，一家三口。
没有别人到来，所以我开始划船。
很是艰难——
蹇涩、打转……
城市在呻吟、在冒烟。
河岸上的罐头罐犹如脚镣……
等着人来看，就露在那里……
但是迈尔斯拿出号子
开始吹奏。
女主人唱出声音。
一首慢节奏的传统布鲁斯。
水流卷着我们走——
号子、嗓音、木桨轻轻击水……
我不知道我们到底漂了多远——
我们的小船载满音乐，
那个夜空缀满星斗。
当我醒来，我们正进入海洋，
朝阳浮在水面
温暖犹如喉咙
金黄就像小号。
我们流下了泪。
然后兴致高昂荡漾。
我一生从未那般幸福。
The Journey
Lawson Fusao Inada
Miles was waiting on the dock,
his trumpet in a paper bag.
Lady was cold—
wind lashed the gardenias
I stole for her hair.
We were shabby, the three of us.
No one was coming so I started to row.
It was hard going—
stagnant, meandering...
The city moaned and smoldered.
Tin cans on the banks like shackles...
To be discovered, in the open...
But Miles took out his horn
and played.
Lady sang.
A slow traditional blues.
The current caught us—
horn, voice, oar stroking water...
I don’’t know how long we floated—
our craft so full of music,
the night so full of stars.
When I awoke we were entering an ocean,
sun low on water
warm as a throat,
gold as a trumpet.
We wept.
Then soared in a spiritual.
Never have I been so happy.
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