美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Poetry Lives Everywhere': NPR Kicks Off National Poetry Month

 

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Depending on where you are right now, it might be drizzly¹. It might be chilly². There might even be snow here and there. But fear not, no matter the weather, it is almost April. And you know what that means, it's almost time for NPR poetry. This time every year, we call out to listeners, and we ask for your original poems via the Twitter hashtag #nprpoetry. And to help us kick off the project this year, we are joined by Tracy K. Smith. She's currently serving as poet laureate of the United States. Professor Smith, Tracy, thank you so much for joining us and helping³ us kick off the month.

TRACY K. SMITH: Oh, it's my pleasure. Thanks for asking me.

MARTIN: You know, we spoke⁴ with you last year when you had just been named to the position, and I was asking, you know, what are poems for? And you told us that the things poems encourage us to acknowledge are more vital during times when we are up in arms about where we're going as a nation or where we're going as citizens. Over the course of your year and traveling and visiting with people, are you finding that other people feel that way? Do you still feel that way?

SMITH: I definitely still feel that way. More and more for me, it comes down to feeling the deep need for a little bit of introspection, time to think about what I feel away from all of the noise that's coming at us. And it's not just coming at us from news sources. It's coming from advertising⁵ and from the technology that we've invited into our lives. And I feel like being a whole and healthy person hinges to a great degree upon being able to turn that off and to listen to something that's older and wiser or deeper.

MARTIN: I want to mention that you have a new collection of poems coming out this month. It's called "Wade⁶ In The Water." Is there any way in which your experience as poet laureate has informed this work? And just tell us a little bit about it, if you don't mind.

SMITH: Well, it's a book that is thinking in different ways about compassion⁷. How does a person go about learning to care about the lives of other people? And one of the places that I've looked for examples of when that has, and more often, hasn't happened is history. So there are a number of poems in the book that are threads of antebellum history in this country and seeing if some of those voices might be able to tell us something useful now. And then there are other poems that come out of my lived experience, you know, right here and now in the 21st century that are helping me to look more closely at the ways that I see or don't see other people.

MARTIN: Well, now you've told us a bit of what inspires you, but can you give us a few words to inspire the Twitter poets?

SMITH: Oh, I'll try. Well, I really believe that poetry lives everywhere. And as a writer, I give myself permission to look in all the crevices⁸ of my life for the questions and wishes that make poems happen for me, and so I hope that listeners will do that. And, you know, in the brief space of a tweet, there's a lot of real life and real thinking, and listening and seeing that you can take great advantage of.

MARTIN: Well, thanks for validating⁹ one of our rules, which is, this year, Twitter has changed their character limit, but we are sticking with the original rules. Poems must be original and they must be 140 characters or less. That's OK, right? I mean...

SMITH: Absolutely.

MARTIN: ...You can do something with that, right?

SMITH: Usually, I write a poem and I end up taking about 30 percent away. So, 140 characters is probably a good frame for something that can be really meaty and delightful¹⁰.

MARTIN: All right, take it from the poet laureate. Tracy K. Smith, thank you so much for joining us.

SMITH: Oh, thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MARTIN: Starting tonight, you can tweet us @npratc with the hashtag #nprpoetry. And each week in April, a professional poet will monitor the hashtags and then come on the program to share some of the submissions¹¹ that caught his or her eye. Jessica Care Moore is up first. She is an internationally acclaimed¹² poet, playwright¹³, and performance artist based in Detroit. Will your work be read on the air? There is only one way to find out, so get inspired, and get ready to tweet.

1 drizzly   

a.毛毛雨的(a drizzly day)

参考例句：

• This section of the country is drizzly in the winter. 该国的这一地区在冬天经常细雨蒙蒙。
• That region is drizzly in winter. 那个地区冬天常下小雨。

2 chilly   

adj.凉快的，寒冷的

参考例句：

• I feel chilly without a coat.我由于没有穿大衣而感到凉飕飕的。
• I grew chilly when the fire went out.炉火熄灭后，寒气逼人。

3 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。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

6 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

7 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

8 crevices   

n.（尤指岩石的）裂缝，缺口( crevice的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It has bedded into the deepest crevices of the store. 它已钻进了店里最隐避的隙缝。 来自辞典例句
• The wind whistled through the crevices in the rock. 风呼啸着吹过岩石的缝隙。 来自辞典例句

9 validating   

v.证实( validate的现在分词 )；确证；使生效；使有法律效力

参考例句：

• His politics at home were validating his efforts in the hemisphere. 他的国内政策也有效地支持了他对本半球所做的努力。 来自辞典例句
• A number of different experimental approaches have aided in validating the concept. 许多不同的实验方法，有助于确证这种概念。 来自辞典例句

10 delightful   

adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的

参考例句：

• We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
• Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。

11 submissions   

n.提交( submission的名词复数 )；屈从；归顺；向法官或陪审团提出的意见或论据

参考例句：

• The deadline for submissions to the competition will be Easter 1994. 递交参赛申请的截止时间为1994年的复活节。 来自辞典例句
• Section 556(d) allows the agency to substitute written submissions for oral direct testimony in rulemaking. 第五百五十六条第（四）款准允行政机关在规则制定中用书面提交材料替代口头的直接证言。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

12 acclaimed   

adj.受人欢迎的

参考例句：

• They acclaimed him as the best writer of the year. 他们称赞他为当年的最佳作者。
• Confuscius is acclaimed as a great thinker. 孔子被赞誉为伟大的思想家。

13 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。