我让他们拿起一首诗

I ask them to take a poem

像彩色幻灯片那样

and hold it up to the light

举到光源下

like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

或把耳朵贴紧它的蜂巢。

I say drop a mouse into a poem

and watch him probe his way out,

我说把一只老鼠丢进诗里

or walk inside the poem's room

看它如何摸索出路，

and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski

或走进诗中的房间

across the surface of a poem

在墙上摸索电灯的开关。

waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to do

我希望他们滑水

is tie the poem to a chair with rope

穿过一首诗的表面

and torture a confession out of it.

在岸上向作者的名字挥手致意。

They begin beating it with a hose

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。