Ada Limón

神奇女侠

【美】艾达·利蒙       陈子弘 译

“就在急诊医生叮嘱完之后
站在泥泞的密西西比河浪涌一侧，嗯，
有时会有事发生，我再一次又快又猛烈
爱上了新奥尔良。止痛药在皮夹子里
打转，还有个咒语备用。好一会儿
我才承认，我正与自己的身体进行
激烈争斗，我的脊柱有三十五度
弯曲，眩晕感来来去去就像DC动漫里
无人能杀死的反派人物。无形的痛楚既是
祝福也是个诅咒。有一次我换了个舒服姿势
咧嘴笑着，一个陌生人说你看起总是那么
开心。而那天，我独自一人在河边，
纳奇兹汽船上传出铜管乐，
我从眼角看到一个女孩，年龄或许有我一半，
无缘无故就打扮成神奇女侠的样子。
她大摇大摆走过，带着力量和荣耀，无敌，
而且永恒，而我起立鼓掌（没有谁不会鼓掌），
她鞠躬致意，那姿态仿佛知道我需要一个神话——
一个女人，在河边，坚不可摧。”

译注：
1. DC动漫，也指美国DC动漫公司，隶属华纳兄弟公司。该公司出版物中包括了最著名的超级英雄动漫形象比如超人、蝙蝠侠、神奇女侠等，当然也包括反派人物，其最大竞争对手是漫威动漫。
2. 纳奇兹汽船是一艘停泊在路易斯安那州新奥尔良港的古老蒸汽船，曾用来渡运往来田纳西与路易斯安那的货物。现在是一个旅游景点。

Wonder Woman

by Ada Limón

“Standing at the swell of the muddy Mississippi
after the urgent care doctor had just said, Well,
sometimes shit happens, I fell fast and hard
for New Orleans all over again. Pain pills swirled
in the purse along with a spell for later. It’s taken
a while for me to admit, I am in a raging battle
with my body, a spinal column thirty-five degrees
bent, vertigo that comes and goes like a DC Comics
villain nobody can kill. Invisible pain is both
a blessing and a curse. You always look so happy,
said a stranger once as I shifted to my good side
grinning. But that day, alone on the riverbank,
brass blaring from the Steamboat Natchez,
out of the corner of my eye, I saw a girl, maybe half my age,
dressed, for no apparent reason, as Wonder Woman.
She strutted by in all her strength and glory, invincible,
eternal, and when I stood to clap (because who wouldn’t have),
she bowed and posed like she knew I needed a myth—
a woman, by a river, indestructible.”