"Accents" by Denice Frohman

I'm Denice Frohman,

翻译人员: Tianji (Homer) Li 校对人员: Heze Ma

我叫丹妮斯·佛罗曼，

and this is "Accents."

这首诗题为《口音》。

my mom holds her accent like a shotgun,

我妈妈说话带口音，

with two good hands.

就好像用双手紧握着猎枪。

her tongue, all brass knuckle

她的舌头像 戴上了指节铜环，

slipping in between her lips

从她的双唇间溜进；

her hips, are all laughter and wind clap.

她的臀部充满了笑声和风声。

she speaks a sanchocho of spanish and english,

她说话西班牙语和英语夹杂着，

pushing up and against one another,

就像用快火烩制一锅大杂烩，

in rapid fire

各种食材相互推推攘攘， 你挤我碰。

there is no telling my mama to be "quiet,"

没法叫我妈妈“静下来”，

my mama don't know "quiet."

因为我妈妈不明白 “quiet” 是什么意思

her voice is one size better fit all

她的音量使得她十分健谈，

and you best not tell her to hush,

你最好别叫她静下来，

she waited too many years for her voice to arrive

她一贯如此说话，

to be told it needed house keeping.

这许多年之后，她才得知她的 音量需要 “内务”管理。

English sits in her mouth remixed

英语在她的嘴中加以混音，

so "strawberry" becomes "eh-strawbeddy"

于是 “strawberry (草莓)” 变成了 “eh-strawbeddy”,

and "cookie" becomes "eh-cookie"

“cookie (饼干)”变成了 “eh-cookie”，

and kitchen, key chain, and chicken all sound the same.

而 “kitchen (厨房)”、“key chain (钥匙扣)” 和 “chicken (鸡)” 听起来都 一样。

my mama doesn't say "yes"

我妈妈不说 “yes (是的)”，

she says, "ah ha"

她说 “ah ha”，

and suddenly the sky in her mouth becomes a Hector Lavoe song.

突然，她嘴里的天空变成了 赫克托·拉沃的歌，

her tongue can't lay itself down flat enough

她的舌头无法摊平

for the English language,

说英语。

it got too much hip

这舌头有太大臀部，

too much bone

太多骨头，

too much conga

太多康加舞，

too much cuatro

太多四弦吉他，

to two step

无法跳两步舞,

got too many piano keys

在她的牙齿间，

in between her teeth,

太多钢琴键，

it got too much clave

太多打击节奏，

too much hand clap

太多拍手声，

got too much salsa to sit still

太多萨尔萨舞，让人坐不住，

it be an anxious child wanting to

它像个焦虑的孩子，

make Play-Doh out of concrete

想要把混凝土 变成培乐多彩泥，

English be too neat for

英语太整洁了，

her kind of wonderful.

不适合表达她 那种美好的方式，

her words spill in conversation

她在俩女人间谈话，滔滔不绝，

between women whose hands are all they got

双手是她们所有的，

sometimes our hands are all we got

有时，我们的双手 是我们所有的。

and accents that remind us that we are still

而口音提醒我们

bomba, still plena

仍是炸弹，仍是集会。

you say "wepa"

你说“哇，太好了”，

and a stranger becomes your hermano,

一个陌生人就成了你的兄弟，

you say "dale"

你说“加油”，

and a crowd becomes a family reunion.

一群人就成了家人团聚，

my mother's tongue is a telegram from her mother

我妈妈的发音就像她妈妈，

decorated with the coqui's of el campo

用“呱呱”类似声音装饰的电报

so even when her lips can barely

因此即使她的嘴唇

stretch themselves around english,

很难吞吐说出英语，

her accent is a stubborn compass

但她的口音就如同永恒的指南针

always pointing her

总是引领着她

towards home.

回乡。