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《The Mailman as Cancer
Patient》
Hanging around the house each day
the mailman never smiles; he tires
easily, is losing weight,
that's all; they'd hold the job –
besides, he needed a rest.
He will not hear it discussed.
As he walks the empty rooms, he
thinks of crazy things
like Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey,
shaking hands with Franklin D. Roosevelt
at Grand Couple Dam,
New year's Eve parties he liked best;
enough things to fill a book
he tells his wife, who
also thinks crazy things
yet keeps on working.
But sometimes at night
the mailman dreams he rises from his bed
puts on his clothes and goes
out, trembling with joy. . .
He hates those dreams
for when he wakes
there's nothing left; it is
as if he'd never been
anywhere, never done anything;
there is just the room,
the early morning without sun,
the sound of a doorknob
turning slowly
罹患癌症的邮递员
之西译
每天在寓所消磨时光
这邮递员从不微笑；他极易
疲乏，体重日减，
就这些了；他们让他暂停工作－
此外，他需要休息。
他也不会听到有关议论。
当他穿梭于那些空房间，他
惯于想些疯狂事，诸如
汤米和杰米多赛，
在大古柏水坝
与富兰克林罗斯福握手，
新年除夕晚会是他的最爱；
那些所思足可码一本书，
他这么告诉妻子，她也好
思索疯事儿
却仍能保持不停地干活。
可邮递员间或
会在夜里梦见自己从床上升起，
穿上衣服，走出去，
快乐地顫抖着。
他恨那些梦
因为梦醒时分
一切尽逝；就仿佛
他哪儿也没去过，
啥事都没干过；
惟有这房间，
这没有阳光的清晨，
这门把手缓缓转动的
声响。
《Deschutes River》
Carver
This sky, for instance:
closed, gray,
but it has stopped snowing
so that is something. I am
so cold I cannot bend
my fingers.
Walking down to the river this morning
we surprised a badger
tearing a rabbit.
Badger had a bloody nose,
blood on its snout up to its sharp eyes:
prowess is not to be confused
with grace.
Later, eight mallard ducks fly over
without looking down. On the river
Frank Sandmeyer trolls, trolls
for steelhead. He has fished
this river for years
but February is the best month
he says.
Snarled, mittenless,
I handle a maze of nylon.
Far away –
another man is raising my children,
bedding my wife bedding my wife.
戴舒河
之西译
这片天空，比如说吧：
封闭，灰暗，
但已雪霁
总之有些特别。我
很冷，手指无法
弯曲。
今晨走向河边
我们讶异于
有只獾正撕裂一只野兔。
獾鼻血淋淋，
血迹布满鼻端与锐眼间：
英武之气断不会混淆于
优雅。
稍后，八只鲁昂鸭掠过
竟不朝下一顾。河岸上
富兰克沙米尔正在拖捕，拖捕
虹鳟。他在此河垂钓
已有年头，
不过二月是垂钓最佳期，
他说。
我气势汹汹，没戴露指手套，
拨弄着迷宫似的尼龙线。
迢递处－－
另一个男人正赡养我的孩子，
还同我妻子相拥而衾，相拥而衾啊。
评论：
《邮递员》一首第三节最好。末三句排比和梦景有虚实相交，动静交错的效应。一种淡淡的哀愁，和着宁静而稍带窒息的意境，令人回味无穷。
（“He will
not hear it discussed. ”是说他不想听别人议论他得癌症的事。）
《戴舒河》上下节的很多意境都是为了推向最后“妻离子散”的心境。
“ so that is
something”这句很有味道，有点调侃的口气。说的是雪停后天空依然令人窒息的气氛，似乎暗合作者的心境，这种由感受特殊场景暗示的主人公之心情，读到最后一行阅者自会明了－－－虽然离婚或分居了，可妻儿让人享用的滋味，恰如雪停后并不明快的情景。Something在此有“难以言状之事”和“remarkable
thing"的意思。
取材于日常生活的诗，倘若提炼不当，常会失之于琐碎和因语言过于口语话而丧失诗的语言美，卡佛这两首诗还是提炼得不错的。
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