美国国家公共电台 NPR A Community Poem Inspired By Broken New Year's Resolutions

 

(SOUNDBITE OF SONIC YOUTH'S "DISCONNECTION NOTICE")

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

With the new year comes new promises and new goals, new friendships and new rules.

KWAME ALEXANDER, BYLINE¹: But some rules, Rachel, are meant to be broken.

MARTIN: They are, aren't they?

ALEXANDER: Yes, yes.

MARTIN: Kwame Alexander is our poet in residence, and he joins me here in the studios.

Hello, Kwame.

ALEXANDER: Rachel, glad to be back in D.C.

MARTIN: OK. Well, I am glad you are here in the flesh, in the studio because we need you to help us unveil another fabulous² community poem.

ALEXANDER: And this one is extra fabulous.

MARTIN: Extra fabulous (laughter).

ALEXANDER: So when we were last together, you said one of your resolutions was to write more poetry.

MARTIN: I actually didn't. I said - not write, like, have in my life.

ALEXANDER: Well, you just did it, so I'm holding you to that. That's my point.

MARTIN: (Laughter) All right, fine. Yeah. OK, so last time we asked you, our listeners, to send in couplets of your abandoned New Year's resolutions.

ALEXANDER: We thought it might be a light way to not take ourselves too seriously. No judgments³, people.

MARTIN: Right. So we got over 500 creative and thought-provoking lines and poems. And then you, Kwame, did your thing. You combined some of your words into a poem of epic⁴ proportions.

ALEXANDER: Yeah. I took all of their poems, and I created one of our crowdsourced community poems. But let's switch it up this week.

MARTIN: OK.

ALEXANDER: These beautiful, amazing couplets all have a musical flow. They really came alive musically with rhythm and rhyme.

MARTIN: That makes sense - music and poetry, one in the same.

MARTIN: My friend Nikki Giovanni says poetry and music are very good friends. So let's recite this month's crowdsourced community poem with a little music underneath⁵. What do you think?

MARTIN: Yeah, let's do it. What do we got? All right. So here we go. All our contributors to this poem are listed on the NPR website. You should go check it out. Kwame, you start. Here we go.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

ALEXANDER: Here's to my treadmill⁶, incomplete without the sound of slapping feet. Eating healthy, getting abs, but chips and chocolate up for grabs. Oh, banana pudding from the deli, how did you get inside my belly⁷?

MARTIN: I was a vegetarian⁸ all the way to 10 a.m. My goals quickly turned to apathy⁹ - at least I eat happily. People acting¹⁰ all highfalutin because they said they've sworn off gluten.

ALEXANDER: Why do my resolutions fail? Why can't I just eat that kale? What makes me want to put my fork into that plate of spiced pulled pork?

MARTIN: Why do I shun¹¹ vegan potpourri¹² after I resolve to go fat-free? I think I shall come next new year, vow¹³ no more pizza, no more beer. Then perhaps I might instead choose green tea and pita bread.

ALEXANDER: To the pounds I vow each year to lose, each time a few more from which to choose, to stop feeding my Krispy Kreme addiction¹⁴, to watch less news, read more fiction.

MARTIN: To the running shoes gathering¹⁵ dust by the back door, to the unfinished dissertation¹⁶ I habitually¹⁷ ignore, to all the papers I did not grade, to all the beds I never made.

ALEXANDER: Though I promised to timely fold, laundry in the dryer¹⁸ lays there cold, I resolve to not procrastinate¹⁹. I'll start tomorrow. Is that too late?

MARTIN: Junk mail towers, a teetering stack, the will to sort it I clearly lack. A new resume, that's what I want. Alas²⁰, can't find the perfect font.

ALEXANDER: Oh, sweet tenor²¹ ukulele, last year's holiday treasure, you filled my heart with sunshine songs in spite of ill wind weather. A year gone by on wistful sigh, no lessons and no learning. A lifetime worth of unsung soul, such longing²² and such yearning²³.

MARTIN: Every year, I vow to change the world before I die. Every year, the world changes, and I didn't even try. Every year, since giving birth, I vow no longer will I curse. But damn it, I'm a parent.

(LAUGHTER)

ALEXANDER: From all the speeding I do that is not legal to the sister-in-law I still love to needle, I resolve to be ever so nice and kind. On January 2, I changed my mind.

MARTIN: Promised myself I would write this couplet. Sorry to say, it just isn't done yet.

ALEXANDER: Sure, my 2020 goals are going just fine, I get them all done if I could just find the time.

MARTIN: The long walks I promised to my dog. The men at bars I would not snog. Long morning runs and lifting fog. Calorie counting in this food log.

ALEXANDER: Candidates for office I should uplift with walks and calls and poll place shifts. Grocery shopping with more thrift²⁴. The long lost friend, your misplaced gifts.

MARTIN: Bills, please pay yourself on time. To all of you, I send these rhymes. Worry not, I have a notion. I can fix this with a potion. Gather the coals, the cauldron set, add in three fresh drops of sweat, a chicken egg not yet hatched, prescription²⁵ pills finally fetched.

ALEXANDER: Sprig of flowers not yet bloomed, more home cooking fills the room.

And lastly here - the secret seed, that dead goldfish I didn't feed, I free you from your frozen disposition²⁶, the unclean refrigerator in my kitchen. And one day soon I'll drink this stout²⁷ after I take my sweet dog out.

MARTIN: (Laughter) An excellent way to start off the first month of this new year.

Kwame Alexander, thank you so much. I'm so glad to have you here in the studio. He's a regular contributor to MORNING EDITION and the author of "The Undefeated."

Thank you.

ALEXANDER: Thank you, Rachel. And I really want to thank all of our listeners for trying poetry.

MARTIN: Yeah, it's awesome²⁸.

NOEL KING, HOST:

That was Rachel and Kwame Alexander. And we should note that this week, Kwame won the Caldecott Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award for his children's book "The Undefeated."

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。

3 judgments   

判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判

参考例句：

• A peculiar austerity marked his judgments of modern life. 他对现代生活的批评带着一种特殊的苛刻。
• He is swift with his judgments. 他判断迅速。

4 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

5 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

6 treadmill   

n.踏车；单调的工作

参考例句：

• The treadmill has a heart rate monitor.跑步机上有个脉搏监视器。
• Drugs remove man from the treadmill of routine.药物可以使人摆脱日常单调的工作带来的疲劳。

7 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

8 vegetarian   

n.素食者；adj.素食的

参考例句：

• She got used gradually to the vegetarian diet.她逐渐习惯吃素食。
• I didn't realize you were a vegetarian.我不知道你是个素食者。

9 apathy   

n.漠不关心，无动于衷；冷淡

参考例句：

• He was sunk in apathy after his failure.他失败后心恢意冷。
• She heard the story with apathy.她听了这个故事无动于衷。

10 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

11 shun   

vt.避开，回避，避免

参考例句：

• Materialists face truth,whereas idealists shun it.唯物主义者面向真理，唯心主义者则逃避真理。
• This extremist organization has shunned conventional politics.这个极端主义组织有意避开了传统政治。

12 potpourri   

n.混合之事物；百花香

参考例句：

• As tobacco cigarette burns,a potpourri of 4000 chemicals is released,including carbon monoxide and hydrocyanic acid.当烟被点燃时，融合了四千种化学品的气体被释放出来，其中包括一氧化碳和氢氰酸。
• Even so,there is a slight odour of potpourri emanating from Longfellow.纵然如此，也还是可以闻到来自朗费罗的一种轻微的杂烩的味道。

13 vow   

n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓

参考例句：

• My parents are under a vow to go to church every Sunday.我父母许愿，每星期日都去做礼拜。
• I am under a vow to drink no wine.我已立誓戒酒。

14 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

15 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

16 dissertation   

n.（博士学位）论文，学术演讲，专题论文

参考例句：

• He is currently writing a dissertation on the Somali civil war.他目前正在写一篇关于索马里内战的论文。
• He was involved in writing his doctoral dissertation.他在聚精会神地写他的博士论文。

17 habitually   

ad.习惯地，通常地

参考例句：

• The pain of the disease caused him habitually to furrow his brow. 病痛使他习惯性地紧皱眉头。
• Habitually obedient to John, I came up to his chair. 我已经习惯于服从约翰，我来到他的椅子跟前。

18 dryer   

n.干衣机，干燥剂

参考例句：

• He bought a dryer yesterday.他昨天买了一台干燥机。
• There is a washer and a dryer in the basement.地下室里有洗衣机和烘干机。

19 procrastinate   

v.耽搁，拖延

参考例句：

• Most often we procrastinate when faced with something we do not want to do.面对不想做的事情，我们经常拖延。
• It's easy to procrastinate when the deadline seems infinitely far away.当最终期限总是遥遥无期时是很容易延期的。

20 alas   

int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)

参考例句：

• Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！
• Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。

21 tenor   

n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意

参考例句：

• The tenor of his speech was that war would come.他讲话的大意是战争将要发生。
• The four parts in singing are soprano,alto,tenor and bass.唱歌的四个声部是女高音、女低音、男高音和男低音。

22 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。

23 yearning   

a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的

参考例句：

• a yearning for a quiet life 对宁静生活的向往
• He felt a great yearning after his old job. 他对过去的工作有一种强烈的渴想。

24 thrift   

adj.节约，节俭；n.节俭，节约

参考例句：

• He has the virtues of thrift and hard work.他具备节俭和勤奋的美德。
• His thrift and industry speak well for his future.他的节俭和勤勉预示着他美好的未来。

25 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

26 disposition   

n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署

参考例句：

• He has made a good disposition of his property.他已对财产作了妥善处理。
• He has a cheerful disposition.他性情开朗。

27 stout   

adj.强壮的，粗大的，结实的，勇猛的，矮胖的

参考例句：

• He cut a stout stick to help him walk.他砍了一根结实的枝条用来拄着走路。
• The stout old man waddled across the road.那肥胖的老人一跩一跩地穿过马路。

28 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.