閑聊阿曼達·戈爾曼

閑聊阿曼達·戈爾曼

 

南伊，2021年1月22日，周五

前天，在美國總統拜登的就職典禮上，一位 22 歲的黑人少女光芒四射，大出風頭，她甚至碾壓了嘎嘎小姐(Lady Gaga)，蓋過了珍妮弗·洛佩茲（Jennifer Lopez），淹沒了加斯·布魯克斯（Garth Brooks）。聚光燈投向了她，人們的視線集中到了她的身上。她的名字叫阿曼達·戈爾曼（Amanda Gorman），剛從哈佛畢業，她是第一位獲得國家青年詩人桂冠的人。阿曼達朗誦了她為這次總統就職典禮寫的詩《我們爬上山》,抑揚頓挫，聲情並茂，一時間洛陽紙貴，好評如潮。

（圖片來自網上）錄像: Poet Amanda Gorman reads 'The Hill We Climb' - YouTube 

在這具有曆史性的表演後不久，在一天之內，她的兩本即將出版的書籍立刻在亞馬遜的暢銷書排行榜上名列前茅。這兩本書其實到今年九月份才會正式出版，一本名為《我們爬上山》的詩集，另一本名為《改變歌聲：兒童國歌》。她的推特賬號一下子粉絲無數，炙手可熱；她成了青少年的青春偶像，也成為成年人關注的對象。可見，人怕出名豬怕壯，牛怕鞭子狗怕棒，她的國會山表演成了她的金字招牌，為她帶來了巨大的明星效應。

奧斯卡最佳女配角獎獲得者雷吉娜·金（Regina King）誇獎阿曼達·戈爾曼說她完美地抓住了曆史的腳步和國家的脈搏。顯然，阿曼達非常喜歡歌劇《漢密爾頓》，以至於她在自己朗誦的詩裏直接引用了兩句：曆史睜大眼睛在看著我們；聖經告訴我們每個人都應該坐在自己的藤蔓和無花果樹下。前美國總統奧巴馬誇讚阿曼達的詩歌為這載入史冊的一天增光添彩；米歇爾·奧巴馬讚揚阿曼達詩中用強壯而憂鬱的語言顯示出民主的力量。

別看阿曼達·戈爾曼年紀輕輕，她的小腦瓜子還蠻複雜，思考還蠻深刻：“我們知道，寂靜不總是和平；常規不總是正義。”“這是黎明前的一刻，我們的國家並未破碎，她隻是尚未完成。”“我們不會回到過去，而是勇往直前。”語言直白，短小精悍，鏗鏘有力。當然，阿曼達的詩與蔡文姬的“人生幾何時，懷憂終年歲”比較起來還差點火候，少些曆練；比起李清照的“生當作人傑，死亦為鬼雄”詩句來，就更差十萬八千裏了。

阿曼達·戈爾曼也直言不諱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 年競選美國總統 - 野心不小吧！希拉裏·克林頓聽說這個消息後激動地說：阿曼達·戈爾曼真有望成為 2036 年的美國總統，我都等不及了！言下之意是，老娘四年前未竟之事，要看你們年輕人啦！長江後浪推前浪，我已擱在沙灘上。“我老了，不中用了。你們還年輕，還年輕啊！”

人要有點誌氣，要立誌幹些大事時，常常被人們稱為“樹雄心立大誌”，不知道為什麽是樹立“雄心”而不是“雌心”？我看這些帶性別的詞語應該被擯棄，要采用中性的詞，比如“野心”。詩言誌，有誌就是有野心。當猿人最初從樹上跳到地上，就有野心驅使；外出狩獵，野心越大，跑得越遠，才能收獲更豐。沒有野心就不會發現新大陸，就不會有嫦娥攬月，火星旅行。

說穿了，野心就是世界不斷向前發展的動力。人有點野心有什麽不好呢？可是，華人多內斂，萬事不張揚，這種內向的性格不利於詩歌文化的繁榮，也不利於在職場展露頭角，快速進步。希望華人的後代們根據自己的愛好選學專業，尤其需要更多學習文科的後起之秀，我們需要工程師，也需要畫家和詩人。期待著將來看到華裔的政治家，華裔的青年桂冠詩人。

附錄：阿曼達·戈爾曼在總統就職典禮上朗誦的詩：《我們爬上山》

朗誦錄像：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