I ask them to take a poem

我让他们拿起一首诗

and hold it up to the light

像彩色幻灯片那样

like a color slide

举到光源下

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem

或把耳朵贴紧它的蜂巢。

and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem's room

我说把一只老鼠丢进诗里

and feel the walls for a light switch.

看它如何摸索出路，

I want them to waterski

across the surface of a poem

或走进诗中的房间

waving at the author's name on the shore.

在墙上摸索电灯的开关。

But all they want to do

is tie the poem to a chair with rope

我希望他们滑水

and torture a confession out of it.

穿过一首诗的表面

They begin beating it with a hose

在岸上向作者的名字挥手致意。

to find out what it really means.

可他们只想做一件事：

把诗用绳子绑在椅子上

对它刑讯逼供。

他们开始用软管抽打它

好弄明白它到底是什么意思。