"Accents" by Denice Frohman

I'm Denice Frohman,

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Helen Chang

我是丹妮斯佛羅曼，

and this is "Accents."

這首詩叫做《口音》。

my mom holds her accent like a shotgun,

我媽媽持有她口音的方式， 就像拿著一把獵槍，

with two good hands.

用雙手緊握著著。

her tongue, all brass knuckle

她的舌頭，如同戴著銅環的手指頭， 在雙脣間滑動、摩擦。

slipping in between her lips

her hips, are all laughter and wind clap.

她的臀部，是笑聲和風的拍打。

she speaks a sanchocho of spanish and english,

她說的是大雜燴，西班牙語和英語

pushing up and against one another,

向上推擠，擠向彼此，在快火當中。

in rapid fire

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

不可能告訴我媽媽要「安靜」，

my mama don't know "quiet."

我媽媽不知道什麼叫「安靜」。

her voice is one size better fit all

她的聲音是單一尺碼通通適用的，

and you best not tell her to hush,

且你最好不要叫她別作聲，

she waited too many years for her voice to arrive

她等待了太多年 才等到她的聲音到來，

to be told it needed house keeping.

被告知它需要清理。

English sits in her mouth remixed

英語坐在她的嘴巴中， 被再次混合，

so "strawberry" becomes "eh-strawbeddy"

於是「草莓（strawberry）」 變成了「eh-strawbeddy」，

and "cookie" becomes "eh-cookie"

「餅干（cookie）」 變成了「eh-cookie」，

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

而廚房（kitchen）、鑰匙圈 （key chain）、雞（chicken）

聽起來都一樣。

my mama doesn't say "yes"

我媽媽不會說「是」，

she says, "ah ha"

她會說「啊哈」，

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

而突然間，她嘴裡的天空 就變成了赫克特拉佛的歌曲。

her tongue can't lay itself down flat enough

她的舌頭無法讓自己躺平到

for the English language,

符合英語的需求。

it got too much hip

它有太多臀部，

too much bone

太多骨頭，

too much conga

太多康加舞，

too much cuatro

太多四弦吉他，無法跳兩步舞，

to two step

got too many piano keys

有太多鋼琴鍵

in between her teeth,

在她的牙齒間，

it got too much clave

它有太多響木，

too much hand clap

太多拍手，

got too much salsa to sit still

有太多騷莎舞而無法坐定。

it be an anxious child wanting to

它像個焦慮的孩子，想要

make Play-Doh out of concrete

把混凝土變成培樂多黏土。

English be too neat for

英語太工整，不適合她那種美好。

her kind of wonderful.

her words spill in conversation

她的話語在談話中溢濺，

between women whose hands are all they got

談話的是兩個女子， 雙手是她們僅有的，

sometimes our hands are all we got

有時，我們的雙手是我們僅有的，

and accents that remind us that we are still

還有口音，提醒著我們，

bomba, still plena

我們仍然美好，仍然充實。

you say "wepa"

你說「wepa」，

and a stranger becomes your hermano,

一名陌生人變成了你的兄弟，

you say "dale"

你說「dale」，

and a crowd becomes a family reunion.

一群人變成了家人團聚。

my mother's tongue is a telegram from her mother

我媽媽的舌頭是 來自她媽媽的電報，

decorated with the coqui's of el campo

用埃爾坎波的科奎鷓鴣裝飾，

so even when her lips can barely

所以即使當她的嘴脣幾乎無法

stretch themselves around english,

依據英語來延展它們自己，

her accent is a stubborn compass

她的口音是個固執的羅盤，

always pointing her

總是為她指出

towards home.

家的方向。