Unit 6 How to Write a Rotten Poem with Almost No Effort课文翻译综合教程三

Unit 6

How to Write a Rotten Poem with Almost No Effort

Richard Howey

1 So you want to write a poem. You’ve had a rotten day or an astounding thought or a car accident or a squalid love affair and you want to record it for all time. You want to organize those emotions that are pounding through your veins. You have something to communicate via a poem but you don’t know where to start.

2 This, of course, is the problem with poetry. Most people find it difficult to write a poem so they don’t even try. What’s worse, they don’t bother reading any poems either. Poetry has become an almost totally foreign art form to many of us. As a result, serious poets either starve or work as account executives. There is no middle ground. Good poets and poems are lost forever simply because there is no market for them, no people who write their own verse and seek out further inspiration from other bards.

3 Fortunately, there is a solution for this problem, as there are for all imponderables. The answer is to make it easy for everyone to write at least one poem in his life. Once a person has written a poem, of whatever quality, he will feel comradeship with fellow poets and, hopefully, read their works. Ideally, there would evolve a veritable society of poet-citizens, which would elevate the quality of life worldwide. Not only that, good poets could make a living for a change.

4 So, to begin, have your paper ready. You must first understand that the poem you write here will not be brilliant. It won’t even be mediocre. But it will be better than 50% of all song lyrics and at least equal to one of Rod McKuen’s best efforts. You will be instructed how to write a four-line poem but the basic structure can be repeated at will to create works of epic length.

5 The first line of your poem should start and end with these words: “In the — of my mind.” The middle word of this line is optional. Any word will do. It would be best not to use a word that has been overdone, such as “windmills” or “gardens” or “playground.” Just think of as many nouns as you can and see what fits best. The rule of thumb is to pick a noun that seems totally out of context, such as “filing cabinet” or “radiator” or “parking lot.” Just remember, the more unusual the noun, the more profound the image. 6 The second line should use two or more of the human senses in a conflicting manner, as per the famous, “listen to the warm.” This is a sure way to conjure up “poetic” feeling and atmosphere. Since there are five different senses, the possibilities are endless. A couple that come to mind are “see the noise” and “touch the sound.” If more

complexity is desired other senses can be added, as in “taste the color of my hearing,” or “I cuddled your sight in the aroma of the night.” Rhyming, of course, is optional.

7 The third line should be just a simple statement. This is used to break up the insightful images that have been presented in the first two lines. This line should be as prosaic as possible to give a “down-to-earth” mood to the poem. An example would be “she gave me juice and toast that morning,” or perhaps “I left for work next day on the 8:30 bus.” The content of this line may or may not relate to what has gone before. 8 The last line of your poem should deal with the future in some way. This gives the poem a forward thrust that is always helpful. A possibility might be, “tomorrow will be a better day,” or “I’ll find someone sometime,” or “maybe we’ll meet again in July.” This future-oriented ending lends an aura of hope and yet need not be grossly optimistic. 9 By following the above structure, anyone can write a poem. For example, if I select one each of my sample lines, I come up with:

In the parking lot of my mind,

I cuddled your sight in the aroma of the night. I left for work next day on the 8:30 bus. Maybe we’ll meet again in July.

10 Now that poem (like yours, when you’re finished) is rotten. But at least it’s a poem and you’ve written it, which is an accomplishment that relatively few people can claim. 11 Now that you’re a poet, feel free to read poetry by some of your more accomplished brothers and sisters in verse. Chances are, you’ll find their offerings stimulating and refreshing. You might even try writing some more of your own poems, now that you’ve broken the ice. Observe others’ emotions and experience your own — that’s what poetry is all about.

12 Incidentally, if you find it impossible to sell the poem you write to Bobby Goldsboro or John Denver, burn it. It will look terrible as the first page of your anthology when it’s published.

轻轻松松写烂诗

理查德·豪伊

1.

这一天你过得很糟糕，或是有了个绝妙的想法，又或者遭遇车祸，再或情场失意，你想

把它永久记录下来。你于是想写一首诗。你想把在你血管里澎湃着的这些情感组织一下。你有些东西需要用诗的形式来传达，但不知道从哪里下手。

2. 写诗当然有这个问题。大多数人觉得写诗很难，所以根本连试都不去试一下。更糟糕的是，大家现在也不再费心去读什么诗了。对多数人来说诗已经成为一种几乎完全陌生的艺术

形式。结果是，严肃诗人要么饿死要么改行去做客户项目经理了。连折衷的余地都没有。优秀诗人和诗歌永远消失了，就是因为没有市场——没人写诗，也没人想从别的诗人那里汲取灵感。

3. 幸运的是，像其他难以精确估量的东西一样，这个问题有一个解决办法。答案是让每个人一生中至少可以轻轻松松写一首诗。一旦某个人写了一首诗，不论质量如何，他会跟其他诗人产生亲近感，那样就很有可能会去阅读他们的作品。理想的状态是，名副其实的诗人公民社会发展起来了，全世界范围内的生活质量得以提升。不仅如此，优秀的诗人也可以换种方式谋生了。

4. 好了，先要把纸准备好。你首先得明白，你在这张纸上写出的诗不可能会太出色，甚至可能连平庸之作都算不上。但它至少会比50%的歌词要好，也至少能与罗德·麦丘恩的某篇得意之作不相上下。我会指导你写一首四行的诗，但这只是基本结构，可以随意重复，就算要用它来写一部鸿篇巨制也没问题。

5. 你的诗作第一行的首尾字词应该是这样的：“在我脑子的_________里。”这一行中间的词是可选的。什么词都可以。最好别用那些已经被人用滥了的词，比如“风车”或“花园”或“游乐场”。尽量多想名词，越多越好，看哪一个最合适。经验法则是选一个看起来完全不合上下文的词，比如“档案柜”或“散热器”或“停车场”。只要记住，这名词越不同寻常，意象就会越深刻。

6. 第二行应该以自相矛盾的方式提到两种或两种以上的人类感觉，比如那句著名的“倾听温暖”。用这个办法来营造“诗意”情感和气氛真是十拿九稳。因为人类共有五种感官，所以能有无穷无尽的组合。现在闯入我脑海的两个就是“看见噪音”和“触摸声音”。如果希望更复杂些，还可以加上其他感官，比如，“品尝我听觉的颜色”，或“我在夜的香气中依偎你的视线”。押韵当然是可有可无的。

7. 第三行应该只是一个简单的陈述句。它是用来打破前两行中所营造的深刻意象的。这一行应该尽量平淡，以便给整首诗一种朴实的基调。比如，“那天早上她给了我果汁和吐司”，又或许“第二天我坐8:30的公共汽车去上班”。这一行的内容可以与前面的内容相关，也可以毫无关联。

8. 诗的最后一行应该用某种方式谈及未来。这会给你的诗作一种向上的感觉，这总是有好处的。也许可以写“明天会更好”，或“有一天我会遇到那个人”，或“也许我们将于七月再见”。这种展望未来的结尾给人一种希望的意味，不过也不必弄到太过乐观地地步。

9. 按照上面的结构，任何人都能写首诗。比如，从上面举的例子中各选一行，我就会写出：

在我心的停车场，

我在夜的香气中依偎你的视线。 第二天我坐8:30的公共汽车去上班， 也许我们将于七月再见。

10. 这首诗(你的诗完成时，也跟这首半斤八两)固然是很烂的，但这好歹也算一首诗，而你

是作者，能拥有这样的成就的人相对来说也不算太多。

11. 既然你已经是诗人了，那就尽管去读某些在诗歌方面更有成就的兄弟姐妹们的诗作吧。你可能会觉得他们的作品令人振奋，令人耳目一新。既然已经开了头，你甚至还可能试着再写些别的诗。观察他人的情感，体验自己的情感——诗歌无外乎如此。

12. 顺便说一句，若是你觉得自己的诗不可能被鲍比·戈尔兹伯勒或约翰·丹佛这样的知名歌手赏识，那就烧掉它，毁“诗”灭迹。到你的诗集出版时，这首诗放在第一篇只会惨不忍睹。

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