美国国家公共电台 NPR Can't Find Time To Read? Poetry Might Make The Perfect Gift

 

(SOUNDBITE OF VINCE GUARALDI TRIO'S "SKATING")

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Now, 'tis the gift-giving season, but don't panic. We're here to help because what makes a better gift than a book? And why not try giving poetry this year? We are joined by our poetry reviewer, a poet herself, Tess Taylor. Hi There.

TESS TAYLOR: Hi.

KELLY: So I have a first question I have to just get out of the way, which is what do you tell people who are skeptical¹ about giving poetry?

TAYLOR: Well, you know, what I always say about poetry is that we are all busy, and poetry is short.

KELLY: True.

TAYLOR: And so you can actually reroute your day productively in, like, five minutes with something that really captures your imagination, takes you to a different place and then allows you to return a little altered, which is, I think, what we all want from reading.

KELLY: All right. So you have picked a few picks that people might want to consider as they sort out their gift list this year. The first one is "Holy Moly Carry Me." Tell me about this book and its author.

TAYLOR: Well, Erika Meitner, she is a professor at Virginia Tech, and, you know, you remember that's the school that went through a major shooting years ago.

KELLY: Of course.

TAYLOR: And this is a book that really is dealing² with raising kids in difficult environments and also kind of facing down the epidemic³ of gun violence in this country, which makes it sound like it might be kind of a depressing book, but what really impressed me about it is how beautiful and tender it is. It's really just a livewire. She's a Jew in Appalachia raising an African-American adopted son. She is and isn't at home. She's kind of meditating⁴ on these things, but she does so in this very incantatory, almost prayer-like way. And I just love this description where she says (reading) holy moly land is a place we all pass through of violence, of revelation, with grand opening flags strung above fenced-in lots and railroad crossings.

KELLY: There's another book on your list that also, speaking of violence, includes themes of violence and peace and, very topically, borders and border crossings. This is "Chenzontle" (ph). I saying that right?

TAYLOR: "Cenzontle."

KELLY: "Cenzontle" - OK. Tell me about this one.

TAYLOR: It's Marcello Hernandez Castillo's debut⁵ book, and this book is really about border crossing but not necessarily in the way that you'd think. It sort of crosses between dreams and reality, between the real and the magical in these kind of fabulous⁶ ways. So one of the poems that I really loved was called "Immigration Interview With Don Francisco," and it has beautiful phrases like (reading) please say more, perhaps the butterflies are mute because no one would believe their terrible stories.

So just when you think it's going to be about something that feels very practical and real, it wafts⁷ off into this very dreamy lyric⁸ shape. And it - I found it to just be beautiful and haunting. It really stuck with me all year.

KELLY: Yeah. You wrote us something about how these are poem shapes that stay in your mind for a long time after you've shut the book.

TAYLOR: Exactly.

KELLY: Beautiful. All right. The next of your poetry picks that I want to hear about is called "The Carrying," and you've said these poems are often about attempting tenderness, which is something we all need more of this year. I mean, I would add to that it's something we all maybe need more of especially at this time of year.

TAYLOR: Exactly, and that's partly why I wanted to add this book to this list. Ada Limon is quietly and deliberately⁹ assembling a really powerful body of work that I think speaks to a really wide audience. On the one hand, this is a book about trying to conceive a child and not being able to. At one point, she says, what if instead of carrying a child I'm supposed to carry grief? But again and again and again in this book, she comes back to kind of a really wise position of looking for tenderness. And so she's at her doctor, and she thinks, I'm made of old stars and so is he. And late - up late one night, not able to sleep, she wakes up to see that the bees are back, tipsy, sun drunk and heavy with the thick, knitted leg warmers of pollen¹⁰. And I just, you know - I think it helps us make sense of the world, and it also helps us bear our grief a little better.

KELLY: And speaking of poem shapes that are going to linger in your mind, that's the...

TAYLOR: Yeah.

KELLY: ...Bees and their leg warmers will stick with me.

TAYLOR: I know.

KELLY: One footnote to ask you, Tess. For those of us with kids on our holiday shopping list, where would you recommend we start if we wanted to give them an introduction to poetry?

TAYLOR: I think that for young and maybe even to middle grade kids, there's a wonderful collection by Elise Paschen called "Poetry Speaks To Children." And it's full of poems that are silly and have wonderful sounds in them. It has even that Shakespeare sonnet¹¹ double, double toil¹² and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble. It has a poem about farts in it, which...

(LAUGHTER)

TAYLOR: I mean, no subject too low.

KELLY: Always a hit, yes.

TAYLOR: Always a hit. And I think that the poems are so fun that they remind you that poems are just for being in your mouth and helping¹³ you have a little bit of joy in language. And I really recommend that collection.

KELLY: Well, Tess Taylor, thank you so much.

TAYLOR: Have a wonderful holiday. Nice to talk you.

KELLY: And to you. That is Tess Taylor. Her most recent collection is called "Work & Days." And to find book ideas in all kinds of genres¹⁴, poetry and otherwise, you can head to NPR's Book Concierge¹⁵. You'll find it at npr.org/bestbooks.

(SOUNDBITE OF VINCE GUARALDI TRIO'S "SKATING")

1 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

2 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

3 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

4 meditating   

a.沉思的，冥想的

参考例句：

• They were meditating revenge. 他们在谋划进行报复。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics. 这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

5 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

6 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。

7 wafts   

n.空中飘来的气味，一阵气味( waft的名词复数 )；摇转风扇v.吹送，飘送，（使）浮动( waft的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• A breeze wafts the sweet smell of roses. 微风吹来了玫瑰花的芬芳（香味）。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• A breeze wafts the smell of roses. 微风吹送玫瑰花香气。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 lyric   

n.抒情诗，歌词；adj.抒情的

参考例句：

• This is a good example of Shelley's lyric poetry.这首诗是雪莱抒情诗的范例。
• His earlier work announced a lyric talent of the first order.他的早期作品显露了一流的抒情才华。

9 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

10 pollen   

n.[植]花粉

参考例句：

• Hummingbirds have discovered that nectar and pollen are very nutritious.蜂鸟发现花蜜和花粉是很有营养的。
• He developed an allergy to pollen.他对花粉过敏。

11 sonnet   

n.十四行诗

参考例句：

• The composer set a sonnet to music.作曲家为一首十四行诗谱了曲。
• He wrote a sonnet to his beloved.他写了一首十四行诗，献给他心爱的人。

12 toil   

vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事

参考例句：

• The wealth comes from the toil of the masses.财富来自大众的辛勤劳动。
• Every single grain is the result of toil.每一粒粮食都来之不易。

13 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

14 genres   

（文学、艺术等的）类型，体裁，风格( genre的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Novel and short story are different genres. 长篇小说和短篇小说是不同的类别。
• But confusions over the two genres have a long history. 但是类型的混淆，古已有之。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

15 concierge   

n.管理员；门房

参考例句：

• This time the concierge was surprised to the point of bewilderment.这时候看门人惊奇到了困惑不解的地步。
• As I went into the dining-room the concierge brought me a police bulletin to fill out.我走进餐厅的时候，看门人拿来一张警察局发的表格要我填。