中式空间

【美】梅梅·贝森布鲁格　陈子弘 译

起先是一道连接街道的大门，然后是墙内的一些
　　花朵，
然后是内侧，有顶的门。这是一堵非常朴素的墙，没有表现主义
　　手法，
比如院子里地面铺设石头上的对比光线照向刻有
　　书法的奠基石。
我祖父称之为立面或巴洛克体验，
　　为庭院赋予明晰之感。
期待面对静态空间的眼光体验到一系列丰富的
　　视觉事件，
比如明代罐子中的蟋蟀，它们的切分节奏就像右一下，然后
　　左一下，再右一下进入
房子，这种体验在意识中无法
　　持续，因为
你移动的本身绑定了时间流逝，并不是进入
　　去引导它。

一扇红门躺在金色镜面上，有着池塘那迷人的坚实
　　与平静
庭院中，是个没特征的空间，无限深邃，无论是
　　不速之幽灵还是光线
都无法直接从外面进入。它躺在整均的全部
　　院落空间中
围绕我们个体的方式，被我们完全无法
　　记在脑海中的房子
所包围。从内门里走过一座桥
　　跨越四方的
鲤鱼池，在溜冰场前右转，我们经过从波士顿
　　引进的玫瑰，
再进入主院，一个废墟样的开放式结构。这
　　不是回忆，
而是在思虑其围绕古怪细节的存在，比如一个
　　抬起来晾干的青花瓷瓶，
尽管某些亮度包含了空间，同样套着
　　蓝色接缝布套的白椅子
也包含它。

空间要变得伟大的潜力与它离我们的距离
　　成比例，
反过来看，我们沿对角线走近时
　　池塘远处的角落
再又成为角落，原本只是个消失点。祖母
　　在玫瑰丛边摆姿势。
也就是说，她背后糙墙的疲惫和令人困顿的质地
　　赋予了超出了照片
边缘容忍的力量。没有扩展空间，
　　没有约束的紧凑性
使这一奇特而强烈的描述与她在时间中的位置
　　相分离
尽管现在许多家庭都住在隔断的房子里。池塘的
　　反射面
理论上会显现太多的存在，以宣称她在空间中
　　特殊的地位，
比如空间中的老虎皮。

三十年代房子里安了电线后，他就装了一套
　　连接美国股票交易所的
行情机。任何存在都占据时间，他会说
　　用的中文版，
看股票报价，就意味着庭院的简洁化为了
　　丰饶的生物圈，
将其安置的事实提升为我们对此的占有，
　　包括说中文的金刚鹦鹉
石头代表花园的无限性。世界就是这样
　　出现，当人
变得富足，即像家一样，在枣树的灵活阴影中
　　疲倦与解脱交替，
让房子成为空间通道一部分，原本是
　　内部的，有世俗装置
就像酒店电梯门上一样，一个黑白的立式
　　烟灰缸。
全家人在酒店前摆姿势，既认识了自己又
　　同时了解了他人。
这也是由于人类记忆是未结束的本性
　　一部分
是为了体验你没有走完的存在。

【诗人简介】梅梅·贝森布鲁格（Mei-mei Berssenbrugge，1947年10月5日—），华裔美国诗人，出生于中国北京，母亲是中国人，父亲是荷兰裔美国人，她一岁时随父母移居美国。她的诗歌风格以长行和富有哲学性的语言著称，融合了抽象陈述与具体观察，涉及自然、感知、哲学、建筑和科学等多个领域。她的作品常常探索人类思想与自然世界的联系，被认为是一种“将感知过程可视化的写作”。她的诗歌创作受到纽约抽象艺术家、纽约诗派和语言诗派的深刻影响。她获得过诸多荣誉，包括两次美国国家艺术基金会奖、两次美国图书奖、两次亚裔美国文学奖、博林根诗歌奖（2021年）。

MEI-MEI BERSSENBRUGGE

Chinese Space

First there is the gate from the street, then some flowers inside
        the wall,
then the inner, roofed gate. It is a very plain wall, without
        expressionistic means,
such as contrasting light on paving stones inside the courtyard to
        the calligraphed foundation stones.
My grandfather called this the facade or Baroque experience,
        rendering a courtyard transparent.
The eye expecting to confront static space experiences a lavish range
         of optical events,
such as crickets in Ming jars, their syncopation like the right, then
           left, then right progress
into the house, an experience that cannot be sustained in
            consciousness, because
your movement itself binds passing time, more than entering
            directs it.

A red door lies on a golden mirror with the fascinating solidity and
           peacefulness of the pond
in the courtyard, a featureless space of infinite depth where neither
           unwanted spirits nor light
could enter directly from outside. It lies within the equally whole
           space of the yard
the way we surrounded our individuals, surrounded by a house we
           could not wholly
retain in memory. Walking from the inner gate across a bridge
          which crossed four ways
over the carp moat, turning right before the ice rink, we pass roses
          imported from Boston,
and enter the main courtyard, an open structure like a ruin. This is
          not remembering,
but thinking its presence around eccentric details such as a blue and
          white urn turned up to dry,
although certain brightnes contain space,the way white
          slipcovered chairs with blue seams
contain it.

The potential of becoming great of the space is proportional to its
 　　distance away from us,
a negative perspective, the way the far corner of the pond becomes
　     a corner again as we approach
on the diagonal, which had been a vanishing point. The
　　grandmother poses beside rose bushes.
That is to say, a weary and perplexing quality of the rough wall
　　behind her gives a power of tolerance
beyond the margins of the photograph. Space without expansion,
　　compactness without restriction
make this peculiar and intense account of the separable person from
　　her place in time,
although many families live in the partitioned house now. The
　　reflecting surface of the pond
would theoretically manifest too many beings to claim her particular
　　　status in the space,
such as a tigerskin in space.

After the house was electrically wired in the thirties, he installed a
　　　ticker tape machine connected
to the American Stock Exchange. Any existence occupies time, he
　　　would say in the Chinese version,
reading stock quotations and meaning the simplicity of the courtyard
　　　into a lavish biosphere,
elevating the fact of its placement to one of our occupation of it,
　　　including the macaw speaking Chinese
stones representing infinity in the garden. This is how the world
　　　appears when the person
becomes sufficient, i.e., like home, an alternation of fatigue and
　　　relief in the flexible shade of date trees,
making the house part of a channel in space, which had been
　　　interior, with mundane fixtures
as on elevator doors in a hotel, a standing ashtray that is black
　　　and white.
The family poses in front of the hotel, both self-knowing and
　　　knowing others at the same time.
This is so, because human memory as a part of unfinished nature
　　　is provided
for the experience of your unfinished existence.

                                              from Conjunctions