Heidi Greco - Practical Anxiety

[戴玨]

Practical Anxiety

By Heidi Greco

a groaning from the floorboards might mean it’s time to fix them
pound some nails, glue some joists, worry in the nighttime over
what it is that’s eating them, hollow from below: insects
or a spreading damp at work in the dark of the beams

the brothers passed the day by playing poker back and forth
sliding cards underneath the wall of the bedroom door, closed
so the boy outside wouldn’t catch his brother’s measles, another
of those contagious could-be-deadly childhood ills

our overflowing pantry holds too many rows of soups, more
than the two of us ever might eat, over the coldest of winters;
scattered about the house there are batteries, bottles of water,
flashlights standing on end, promises cold as empty vases

pinkest strains of maybe-blood in yesterday morning’s pee,
some twitching under the eye that’s probably something worse,
a hardening that might tomorrow turn into a dangerous lump,
somewhere lurking nasty, out of sight.

實際的焦慮

海蒂?格雷寇（詩）/戴玨（譯）

地板嘎吱的響可能意味著，該是時候修理了
敲幾顆釘子，膠合幾處桁檁，晚上擔心
有東西在那兒噬食，從下面挖空：蛀蟲
或綿延的潮濕在棟梁間的黑暗中作祟

兩兄弟玩撲克打發時間，一整天來來去去地
在房門下塞紙牌，門關上了
這樣門外的男孩便不會染上門裏兄弟的麻疹，
又一種足以致命的兒童傳染病

我們那滿溢的櫃櫥擺了那麽多排的罐頭湯
就算最冷的冬天也消耗不完
房子裏四處是電池，水樽，
豎放的手電筒，如空花瓶般清冷的諾言

昨天早晨尿裏最粉紅的那種（或許是）血，
眼皮下間或抽搐，可能是更不妙的東西，
某處發硬，說不定明天就會變成有害的腫塊，
陰險地潛藏在看不到的地方。

[kino]

翻译的很好了。但是翻译就是这样的，很无奈，有些东西译出来就丢掉了。

[kokho]