2005年NPR美国国家公共电台十一月-Poets Reflect on Giving Thanks

Anchor: On this day of thanks, 3 of our regular poets offer a few words about what this time means to them, and what they're thankful for this year.

Freda Denis-Cooper: My name is Freda Denis-Cooper, and this is my poem--Children of the Stream:

Love, like a stream flowing down, fills me with the triumph of my ancestors, and leads me like a child into the hope of God's promise.
Obediently, I take hold of hands that protect and guide me through. Honor thy father and mother. I celebrate the richness of heritage, the miracle of today, and the all of tomorrow.
Dance with me, through the harvest of this season. Sing a bold and joyful¹ song, worship, in spirit and in truth. We are the blessed children of the stream, children of the most high God, immersed in his ever-flowing spirit of love.

Sharan Strange: My name is Sharan Strange, and this is my poem--Thankful:

Thankful, for the day even when I barely recognize it, like the balmy winter morning as leaves sensing my audience, articulate a dance, sashaying to the breeze's ardor², and I too feel its fingering, notes played on me, sensuous³ sun easing me, and the news is my nephew is alive, having survived Iraq, and now a father.
Thankful, for the day, though I'm faced to fathom⁴ it, as earth and ocean cough and the spasms⁵ sweep over us, leaving no fathers, mothers, children in its wake, but a swelling⁶ grief, a wound our collective compassion⁷ must cauterize⁸, and we have not forgotten how to feel and cry out for justice and craft our words and move our hands to its shape.
Thankful for the day when the unsaid looms⁹ greater than what (it) is, for the day everyday even as we are surrounded by mystery and rude existence and struggle against fear and anger, and I remember that there is a clearing in me, a space made holy by my grandmother's love, by my ancestor's survival, holy and nakedly joyful, breathing each day, new life.

Dasan Ahanu: My name is Dasan Ahanu, and this is my Thanksgiving Day poem.

Ask me about a Thursday in November and I can speak volumes about love. Sprinkled in pots and pie dishes and served warm like strong family values. To see matriarchs gives us a history lesson in what you give thanks for. My fight fed by cooking rich in freedom so I eat it like escape. An underground railroad sustenance¹⁰ into my belly¹¹ until I'm too full to be held down anymore.
I'm thankful that the prayer we say is in a circle of trust, hands held tight because the day we claimed as ours was the day where fingers were crossed and promises broken. And hands that pray shook hands that invokes¹² spirits with ill intentions. This is a day of reckoning.
And now I'm thankful for the dialogue that I have, with little cousins who are the future we need, with elders who held the fight we search for, with friends that make movements. Community is indigenous¹³ here, and we work hard not to let anything to eliminate that, and heed¹⁴ the model we've seen.
I'm thankful for the compassion that provides dinners to shelters, Katrina and Rita's survivors¹⁵, group homes and community centers.
I'm thankful for the tribes that still exist, for the understanding that still exists, for my family's day of peace that still exists.

Anchor: Poet and spoken word artist Dasan Ahanu teaches at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University in Durham North Carolina. Sharan Strange teaches creative writing at Spelman College in Atlanta. A collection of poems is titled "Ash", and Freda Denis-Cooper has a collection of poems titled "Stones Unturned".

1 joyful   

adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的

参考例句：

• She was joyful of her good result of the scientific experiments.她为自己的科学实验取得好成果而高兴。
• They were singing and dancing to celebrate this joyful occasion.他们唱着、跳着庆祝这令人欢乐的时刻。

2 ardor   

n.热情，狂热

参考例句：

• His political ardor led him into many arguments.他的政治狂热使他多次卷入争论中。
• He took up his pursuit with ardor.他满腔热忱地从事工作。

3 sensuous   

adj.激发美感的；感官的，感觉上的

参考例句：

• Don't get the idea that value of music is commensurate with its sensuous appeal.不要以为音乐的价值与其美的感染力相等。
• The flowers that wreathed his parlor stifled him with their sensuous perfume.包围著客厅的花以其刺激人的香味使他窒息。

4 fathom   

v.领悟，彻底了解

参考例句：

• I really couldn't fathom what he was talking about.我真搞不懂他在说些什么。
• What these people hoped to achieve is hard to fathom.这些人希望实现些什么目标难以揣测。

5 spasms   

n.痉挛( spasm的名词复数 )；抽搐；（能量、行为等的）突发；发作

参考例句：

• After the patient received acupuncture treatment,his spasms eased off somewhat. 病人接受针刺治疗后，痉挛稍微减轻了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The smile died, squeezed out by spasms of anticipation and anxiety. 一阵阵预测和焦虑把她脸上的微笑挤掉了。 来自辞典例句

6 swelling   

n.肿胀

参考例句：

• Use ice to reduce the swelling. 用冰敷消肿。
• There is a marked swelling of the lymph nodes. 淋巴结处有明显的肿块。

7 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

8 cauterize   

v.烧灼；腐蚀

参考例句：

• He cauterized the wound with a piece of red-hot iron.他用一块烧红的烙铁烧灼伤口。
• Doctors decided to cauterize the wound.医生们决定将伤口烧灼消毒。

9 looms   

n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• All were busily engaged,men at their ploughs,women at their looms. 大家都很忙，男的耕田，女的织布。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The factory has twenty-five looms. 那家工厂有25台织布机。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 sustenance   

n.食物，粮食；生活资料；生计

参考例句：

• We derive our sustenance from the land.我们从土地获取食物。
• The urban homeless are often in desperate need of sustenance.城市里无家可归的人极其需要食物来维持生命。

11 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

12 invokes   

v.援引( invoke的第三人称单数 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求

参考例句：

• The Roundtable statement invokes the principles of the free market system. 企业界圆桌会议的声明援用了自由市场制度的原则。 来自辞典例句
• When no more storage is available, the system invokes a garbage collector. 当没有可用的存贮时，系统就调用无用单元收集程序。 来自辞典例句

13 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

14 heed   

v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心

参考例句：

• You must take heed of what he has told.你要注意他所告诉的事。
• For the first time he had to pay heed to his appearance.这是他第一次非得注意自己的外表不可了。

15 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者