美国国家公共电台 NPR--'Love, Me' is a community poem crowdsourced from hundreds of letters

'Love, Me' is a community poem crowdsourced from hundreds of letters

Transcript¹

There are few forms of communication that are as powerful as a handwritten letter.

So we recently asked listeners to send us poems in letter — or epistolary — form, addressed to anyone of their choosing.

Many chose to write to loved ones, both living and dead. Some wrote to lawmakers. Others wrote in existential fashion, including to the world.

Their letters talked of long and dear friendships, of love and loss and of difficult relationships.

We received more than 600 submissions², and NPR's Poet-in-Residence Kwame Alexander turned some of them into this community, crowd-sourced poem.

"This was the most challenging poem to date, hands down," Alexander tells Morning Edition. "Over 600 submissions, and everyone was writing to a different person ... a few people even wrote to us!"

Read Alexander's poem, titled Love, Me.

Dear Love,

Seeing you again today has got me thinking. We are at that stage in life where it's death — funerals, wakes, memorial services — that draws us together.

Should we wait for someone else to die to get together again? For some unknown reason the thought of you taking singing lessons in Bishkek crossed my mind this morning. I hope you are still singing, opening windows and laughing at our absurdities³.

Every morning I open up to the back deck and look at the colorful array of life.

I dare you to wake up early before the sunrise, to step out of your home barefoot and naked. I dare you to walk through the grass and drift toward the trees and when you get there to raise your head high and plant your feet deep to look at the sky and marvel⁴ at its changing color

Mortality is looming⁵ large. I'm almost 80. You will be soon, a few weeks before me. Will we party? Maybe? Does this worry you? Getting older?

Today, I noticed a tiny grasshopper⁶ leap into the unknown, and suddenly my escape turned into a race to be home. To tell you about it. To hold your tiny, chubby⁷ hand and show you this tiny leaping soul, and revel⁸ in your delight. Your wonder.

But, you are gone, and everything I see, touch, smell, hear takes me back to the you I still love, the you that still lives in all I see.

When I boil my water to make a cup or two, I remember the coffee cup by the bathroom sink with lipstick⁹ on the rim¹⁰ and still half to drink.

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I have your smile, too. I also have the lines around my face that have come from smiling. Like you, I earned them.

If I could choose heaven for you, I think you'd have a small farm by the side of the sea. I'd put the Blue Ridge¹¹ Mountains by the Assateague Shore, and move green Irish islands a short walk from your door. There'd be gardens and rivers, an ocean and beach, and a busy French market within easy reach.

Dear Old Friend,

I read your name in today's newspaper.

Isn't it silly that eulogies¹² are said after death? Why not before?

I miss you. I miss our youth.

Now our grandkids are that age, and I wake each morning hunting memory.

Dear treasured old friend, it's pushing midnight. Why am I writing a letter to you that I have no way to send, any more than you to receive?

I look for you every day. Sometimes I find you. I saw you in the hooded¹³ oriole staring at me from the plum tree, I felt you as my kitten purred and curled into my neck. My neighbor brought me beautiful roses today and I saw your face light up. You loved roses.

Dear Phyllis, I know you don't remember me. You don't remember much of anything: Your life, your family, yourself. My letters probably don't mean anything to you. But I remember you for both of us.

Dear Yoga Teacher, thank you for being ordinary. Thank you for having the same thickness around the middle.

Dear Nathan, my sweet son, please go to sleep. Mommy has to keep working and get up soon, before the moon switches with the sun.

Dear Grandma, we haven't spoken for a while now, and I suppose that's my fault. I haven't been in the best of moods, and I'll assume you know why. As you know I've always kept our letters, wedged underneath¹⁴ my box spring. They've slept soundly for as long as I can remember, so quiet and peaceful.

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Dear Me, I know you are suffering.

Dear Darkness, I am tired. Of you.

Dear Lawmakers, you're hammering away at my daughter's rights.

Dear World

Dear World

Dear World

You won't be able to read this for another few years, and even then, it may not make much sense, But here is the message my dear: There is beauty in the worst of us, trees are your friends. But not geese – they will poop everywhere, and try to nest in your flower pots. Ignore my tangential¹⁵ goose warnings. Your destiny is determined¹⁶ by the life cards you choose to play. Always believe Gandalf.

If you should happen upon these words, know I have lived in many daydream¹⁷ moments with thoughts of you.

My solitude¹⁸ allows the time to hold reflect and care, arrange a memory in rhyme, to hold it close and fair.

Love, Me

This community poem was creating using submissions by:

Tracy Dumka, British Columbia

Lindsay Lunari, San Francisco, CA

Jocelyn Boor¹⁹, Grafton, WI

Maureen Prendergast, New Bern, NC

Jane VanderVelde, Pasadena, CA

Tom Sterling²⁰, Fairfax, VA

Judith Hodges, Yardley, PA

Luanne Novak, Houston, TX

Deborah Lunn, Nashville, TN

Laine Derr, Sedona, AZ

Charlie Ewers²¹, Gales²² Ferry, CT

Robin²³ Morey, Alexandria, VA

Susan Mcclellan, Pittsburgh, PA

Susan Vincent Molinaro, Katonah, NY

Grace Jasmine, Phoenix²⁴, AZ

Tom Trevino, San Antonio, TX

Anne Mallon, Salt Lake City, UT

Carol J Wechsler Blatter, Tucson, AZ

Mary Honeyman-Speichinger, Emerson, IA

Kathryn Thompson, Penrose, NC

Joshua Silavent, Atlanta, GA

Sandy Lee Carlson, Woodbury, CT

Dee Curwen, Corvallis, OR

Leah Hampshire, Troy, OH

Deborah Guenther-Beachboard, Chehalis, WA

Bridget-Seley Galway, Somerville, MA

Shalane Clayton, Albuquerque, NM

C. E. Dawson, Amherst, MA

Grace Rowe, Plymouth, MI

Brenna Bridge, Grandview, MO

Susan Reeves, Santa Barbara, CA

James Richeson, Shoreham, NY

Ariel Reinish, Rochester, NY

Mary Kollar, Seattle, WA

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Kwame Alexander's assistant Cassidy Ann Dyce helped produce this story. Jeevika Verma and Reena Advani produced and edited the audio story. Reena Advani and Rachel Treisman adapted it for the web.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 submissions   

n.提交( submission的名词复数 )；屈从；归顺；向法官或陪审团提出的意见或论据

参考例句：

• The deadline for submissions to the competition will be Easter 1994. 递交参赛申请的截止时间为1994年的复活节。 来自辞典例句
• Section 556(d) allows the agency to substitute written submissions for oral direct testimony in rulemaking. 第五百五十六条第（四）款准允行政机关在规则制定中用书面提交材料替代口头的直接证言。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

3 absurdities   

n.极端无理性( absurdity的名词复数 )；荒谬；谬论；荒谬的行为

参考例句：

• She has a sharp eye for social absurdities, and compassion for the victims of social change. 她独具慧眼，能够看到社会上荒唐的事情，对于社会变革的受害者寄以同情。 来自辞典例句
• The absurdities he uttered at the dinner party landed his wife in an awkward situation. 他在宴会上讲的荒唐话使他太太陷入窘境。 来自辞典例句

4 marvel   

vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事

参考例句：

• The robot is a marvel of modern engineering.机器人是现代工程技术的奇迹。
• The operation was a marvel of medical skill.这次手术是医术上的一个奇迹。

5 looming   

n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• The foothills were looming ahead through the haze. 丘陵地带透过薄雾朦胧地出现在眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they looked up. Looming above them was Mount Proteome. 接着他们往上看，在其上隐约看到的是蛋白质组山。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望

6 grasshopper   

n.蚱蜢，蝗虫，蚂蚱

参考例句：

• He thought he had made an end of the little grasshopper.他以为把那个小蚱蜢干掉了。
• The grasshopper could not find anything to eat.蚱蜢找不到任何吃的东西。

7 chubby   

adj.丰满的，圆胖的

参考例句：

• He is stocky though not chubby.他长得敦实，可并不发胖。
• The short and chubby gentleman over there is our new director.那个既矮又胖的绅士是我们的新主任。

8 revel   

vi.狂欢作乐，陶醉；n.作乐，狂欢

参考例句：

• She seems to revel in annoying her parents.她似乎以惹父母生气为乐。
• The children revel in country life.孩子们特别喜欢乡村生活。

9 lipstick   

n.口红，唇膏

参考例句：

• Taking out her lipstick,she began to paint her lips.她拿出口红，开始往嘴唇上抹。
• Lipstick and hair conditioner are cosmetics.口红和护发素都是化妆品。

10 rim   

n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界

参考例句：

• The water was even with the rim of the basin.盆里的水与盆边平齐了。
• She looked at him over the rim of her glass.她的目光越过玻璃杯的边沿看着他。

11 ridge   

n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭

参考例句：

• We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
• The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

12 eulogies   

n.颂词，颂文( eulogy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Her latest film has brought eulogies from the critics. 她最近的这部电影获得影评界的好评。 来自互联网

13 hooded   

adj.戴头巾的；有罩盖的；颈部因肋骨运动而膨胀的

参考例句：

• A hooded figure waited in the doorway. 一个戴兜帽的人在门口等候。
• Black-eyed gipsy girls, hooded in showy handkerchiefs, sallied forth to tell fortunes. 黑眼睛的吉卜赛姑娘，用华丽的手巾包着头，突然地闯了进来替人算命。 来自辞典例句

14 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

15 tangential   

adj.离题的，切线的

参考例句：

• Too much time was spent discussing tangential issues.太多的时间花在了讨论那些无关紧要的问题上。
• They thought the whole thing was a side-show, tangential to the real world of business.他们认为整件事情只是一个插曲，和真正的商界没有多大关系。

16 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

17 daydream   

v.做白日梦，幻想

参考例句：

• Boys and girls daydream about what they want to be.孩子们遐想着他们将来要干什么。
• He drifted off into another daydream.他飘飘然又做了一个白日梦。

18 solitude   

n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方

参考例句：

• People need a chance to reflect on spiritual matters in solitude. 人们需要独处的机会来反思精神上的事情。
• They searched for a place where they could live in solitude. 他们寻找一个可以过隐居生活的地方。

19 boor   

n.举止粗野的人；乡下佬

参考例句：

• I'm a bit of a boor,so I hope you won't mind if I speak bluntly.我是一个粗人，说话直来直去，你可别见怪。
• If he fears the intellectual,he despises the boor.他对知识分子有戒心，但是更瞧不起乡下人。

20 sterling   

adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑)

参考例句：

• Could you tell me the current rate for sterling, please?能否请您告诉我现行英国货币的兑换率？
• Sterling has recently been strong,which will help to abate inflationary pressures.英国货币最近非常坚挺，这有助于减轻通胀压力。

21 ewers   

n.大口水壶，水罐( ewer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• White ceramicware asas green-splashed bowls and ewers are known to have been popular in Iran. 白色陶瓷制品以及绿花的碗与大口水壶已经在伊朗流行是众所周知的事。 来自互联网

22 gales   

龙猫

参考例句：

• I could hear gales of laughter coming from downstairs. 我能听到来自楼下的阵阵笑声。
• This was greeted with gales of laughter from the audience. 观众对此报以阵阵笑声。

23 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

24 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。