《诗歌导论》
作者：比利·柯林斯
翻译：忒绿
我请他们拿起一首诗
朝向光线举起
像观看一张彩色幻灯片
或者将耳朵贴在它的中间。
我说把一只小鼠放进诗里
看它如何寻找出路，
或者走入诗的房间
抚摸墙壁寻找灯的开关。
我要他们滑水
滑过诗的表面
向岸上的作者名字致意。
然而他们想做的
是用绳子把诗绑在椅子上
逼迫它坦白。
他们开始痛打它
让它交代它的真正含义。
Introduction to Poetry
By Billy Collins
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
