闲聊阿曼达·戈尔曼

闲聊阿曼达·戈尔曼

 

南伊，2021年1月22日，周五

前天，在美国总统拜登的就职典礼上，一位 22 岁的黑人少女光芒四射，大出风头，她甚至碾压了嘎嘎小姐(Lady Gaga)，盖过了珍妮弗·洛佩兹（Jennifer Lopez），淹没了加斯·布鲁克斯（Garth Brooks）。聚光灯投向了她，人们的视线集中到了她的身上。她的名字叫阿曼达·戈尔曼（Amanda Gorman），刚从哈佛毕业，她是第一位获得国家青年诗人桂冠的人。阿曼达朗诵了她为这次总统就职典礼写的诗《我们爬上山》,抑扬顿挫，声情并茂，一时间洛阳纸贵，好评如潮。

（图片来自网上）录像: Poet Amanda Gorman reads 'The Hill We Climb' - YouTube 

在这具有历史性的表演后不久，在一天之内，她的两本即将出版的书籍立刻在亚马逊的畅销书排行榜上名列前茅。这两本书其实到今年九月份才会正式出版，一本名为《我们爬上山》的诗集，另一本名为《改变歌声：儿童国歌》。她的推特账号一下子粉丝无数，炙手可热；她成了青少年的青春偶像，也成为成年人关注的对象。可见，人怕出名猪怕壮，牛怕鞭子狗怕棒，她的国会山表演成了她的金字招牌，为她带来了巨大的明星效应。

奥斯卡最佳女配角奖获得者雷吉娜·金（Regina King）夸奖阿曼达·戈尔曼说她完美地抓住了历史的脚步和国家的脉搏。显然，阿曼达非常喜欢歌剧《汉密尔顿》，以至于她在自己朗诵的诗里直接引用了两句：历史睁大眼睛在看着我们；圣经告诉我们每个人都应该坐在自己的藤蔓和无花果树下。前美国总统奥巴马夸赞阿曼达的诗歌为这载入史册的一天增光添彩；米歇尔·奥巴马赞扬阿曼达诗中用强壮而忧郁的语言显示出民主的力量。

别看阿曼达·戈尔曼年纪轻轻，她的小脑瓜子还蛮复杂，思考还蛮深刻：“我们知道，寂静不总是和平；常规不总是正义。”“这是黎明前的一刻，我们的国家并未破碎，她只是尚未完成。”“我们不会回到过去，而是勇往直前。”语言直白，短小精悍，铿锵有力。当然，阿曼达的诗与蔡文姬的“人生几何时，怀忧终年岁”比较起来还差点火候，少些历练；比起李清照的“生当作人杰，死亦为鬼雄”诗句来，就更差十万八千里了。

阿曼达·戈尔曼也直言不讳地表白了她的政治野心：“skinny Black girl, descended from slaves and raised by a single mother” who can dream of being president one day, “only to find herself reciting for one。”她希望在 2036 年竞选美国总统 - 野心不小吧！希拉里·克林顿听说这个消息后激动地说：阿曼达·戈尔曼真有望成为 2036 年的美国总统，我都等不及了！言下之意是，老娘四年前未竟之事，要看你们年轻人啦！长江后浪推前浪，我已搁在沙滩上。“我老了，不中用了。你们还年轻，还年轻啊！”

人要有点志气，要立志干些大事时，常常被人们称为“树雄心立大志”，不知道为什么是树立“雄心”而不是“雌心”？我看这些带性别的词语应该被摈弃，要采用中性的词，比如“野心”。诗言志，有志就是有野心。当猿人最初从树上跳到地上，就有野心驱使；外出狩猎，野心越大，跑得越远，才能收获更丰。没有野心就不会发现新大陆，就不会有嫦娥揽月，火星旅行。

说穿了，野心就是世界不断向前发展的动力。人有点野心有什么不好呢？可是，华人多内敛，万事不张扬，这种内向的性格不利于诗歌文化的繁荣，也不利于在职场展露头角，快速进步。希望华人的后代们根据自己的爱好选学专业，尤其需要更多学习文科的后起之秀，我们需要工程师，也需要画家和诗人。期待着将来看到华裔的政治家，华裔的青年桂冠诗人。

附录：阿曼达·戈尔曼在总统就职典礼上朗诵的诗：《我们爬上山》

朗诵录像：Poet Amanda Gorman reads 'The Hill We Climb' - YouTube 

Mr. President, Dr. Biden, Madam Vice President, Mr. Emhoff, Americans and the world, when day comes, we ask ourselves where can we find light in this never ending shade? The loss we carry, a sea we must wade. We braved the belly of the beast.

We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace and the norms and notions of what just is, isn’t always justice. And yet the dawn is hours before we knew it, somehow we do it, somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken but simply unfinished.

We, the successors of a country and a time, where a skinny black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one.

And yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine, but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect. We are striving to forge our union with purpose, to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters, and conditions of man. And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us but what stands before us. We close the divide because we know to put our future first. We must first put our differences aside.

We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another We seek harm to none and harmony for all. Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true, that even as we grieved, we grew. That even as we hurt, we hoped.

That even as we tired, we tried. That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious, not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division.

Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid.

If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory won’t lighten the blade but in all the bridges we’ve made, that is the promise to glade, the hill we climb if only we dare, it’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit. It’s the past we stepped into and how we repair it.

We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it, would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy. And this effort very nearly succeeded. But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated. In this truth, in this faith, we trust. For while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us.

This is the era of just redemption. We feared — at its deception. We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour, but within it we found the power to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves.

So, while once we asked, “how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?”, now we assert, “how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?” We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be, a country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free. We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation.

Because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation. Our blunders become their burdens. But one thing is certain. If we merge mercy with might and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change, our children’s birth right.

So let us leave behind a country better than one we were left with, every breath from my bronze pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one. We will rise through the gold-limbed hills in the west, we will rise from the windswept northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution. We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the Midwestern states.

We will rise from the sun-baked South. We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover, in every known nook of our nation, in every corner called our country, our people diverse and beautiful, will emerge battered and beautiful.

When day comes, we step out of the shade, aflame and unafraid.

The new dawn blooms as we free it for there is always light if only we’re brave enough to see it, if only we’re brave enough to be it.

 

南伊，2021年1月22日，周五