2017年10月，刚上任的美国桂冠诗人/普利策奖得主特蕾茜K.史密斯（TracyK.Smith）访问中国,参加"跨越语言的诗意——北师大国际写作中心翻译工作坊·第六季"，以及一系列座谈和朗诵。随行的外国诗人包括墨西哥诗人马里奥·博约克斯，美国著名诗人凯文·杨，姚强等。
10月12日，应北京联合大学黄宗英教授的邀请，特蕾茜·K.史密斯（Tracy K.Smith，1972-）、马里奥·博约克斯（Mario Bojórquez,1968-）、凯文·杨(Kevin Young,1970-)、姚强（John Yau,1950-)、斯蒂芬妮·安德森（Stephanie Anderson）、谢思茂（Simon Shieh）、西川、欧阳江河、伊蕾、明迪、严彬等中外诗人参加了在北京联合大学举行的中外诗歌朗诵会。在朗诵会期间，中国诗人严彬、青年小说家杜梨对特蕾茜K.史密斯进行了访谈。
访谈时间：2017年10月12日
受访：特蕾茜·K·史密斯（2017年美国桂冠诗人，普利策奖得主）
访问：严彬（诗人，凤凰读书主编）
杜梨（青年小说作者，凤凰读书编辑）
编译：杜梨
【访谈】
凤凰读书：第一个问题很普通：请您谈谈您对"诗"的理解。对您而言，诗意味着什么？
[译文] Please tell us, what's your understanding and appreciation of poetry? To you, what is poetry exactly?
特蕾茜·K·史密斯（以下简称史密斯）：
Well, I think that poetry is the language that allows us to consider our feelings, and the experiences that don't fit in the ordinary language. Poetry can allow us to slow down and reconsider and associate. So we can create vocabulary for inner life, and for the huge and transformative and puzzling and disturbing aspect of our today life, hard to describe and understand.
[译文] 我认为诗歌就像是一种神奇的语言，能够让我们描绘出其他普通语言所不能描述出来的内心的感受以及过往的经历。诗歌能够让我们内心平静并且安静下来，重新审视生活中遇到的问题，并寻求和解之道。通过诗歌，我们能够创造出一种展现内心生活的语言，将现今生活中的巨大的、实时变化的、令人困惑的、不安的各个方面都展现出来，将那些难以描述和理解的内心世界，用诗歌这种语言清晰的描述出来。
凤凰读书：据我了解，全球目前英国和美国设有"桂冠诗人"荣誉，其中英国的桂冠诗人可追溯到中世纪，拥有"王室诗人"的称号。作为新晋美国"桂冠诗人"，请您为中国读者介绍一下您所了解的"美国桂冠诗人"，它有哪些特点？
[译文] And as I know, UK and America have the award of Poet Laureate, and UK has a long history about this for they had 'Royal Poet' in the middle age. Well as a new Poet Laureate, please tell us something about American Poet Laureate, do you have any special features?
史密斯：
The award of American Poet Laureate is a little bit different from UK Poet Laureate. In the UK, the person is called(此处录音模糊) official words, verse, poem, poet words especially in national occasions. In the US, the poet laureate is asked to help to raise the awareness of poetry in people's mind across the nations. So, creating more public occasions for people to read and listen to and think about or even maybe write the poetry. What I think, I would like to do is to use the poems as a way of helping people from different backgrounds and with different values to talk to each other and listen to each other. The poem reflects us all, that poems are the private stories even they are fictional, they are private story from real experience. They teach us things and remind us things by our own private experience, and when we can talk about those things with each other, we really learn things about each other, and we value each other. We remember that even though we come from different places, even though we might have different opinions. We are human and our life are worth cherishing. I think that's really something excited to helping to foster.
[译文]美国的桂冠诗人奖项与英国的还是有些不同。在英国，桂冠诗人也称为王室诗人，是一种很官方的荣誉，在诗歌领域全国范围内非常有权威的头衔与奖项。美国的桂冠诗人，更多的是要帮助人们加深对于诗歌的理解与感悟，为公众读者提供阅读和聆听诗歌、甚至去创作诗歌的机会。我觉得，对我而言，我希望能够通过诗歌帮助人们交流与聆听，即便他们可能有着不同的背景、不同的价值观，但诗歌能够给他们更便捷的沟通渠道。诗歌就是我们每个人内心的映射，虽然是虚构的，但诗歌是来源于我们的私人经历和真实经验。诗歌教会我们从私人的经历和故事中去感受生活并悟出真谛，从而人们之间能够有更多的理解。我们也能够意识到，即便来自于不同的地方，可能有着不同的见解与观点，但我们都是人类，我们的生活都值得去珍惜。我真的觉得这一点令人感到非常兴奋和满足，足以让我为之饱含希望。
凤凰读书：能否谈谈您所知的美国当代诗歌状况，比如主流的诗歌风格、主要的诗人、诗集的出版，美国读者对美国诗歌大体上的态度，等等。
[译文] Can you tell us something about American contemporary Poetry? Such as the main style of poetry, some main poets or the publication situation and people's feeling about poetry?
史密斯：
Sure, poetry is interesting because at this moment in American history, it's incredibly diverse, in term of form, in term of the material, in term of people who are reading poetry. There are so many different communities. I'm really interested in a lot of the immigrant communities, and the poets who were coming out that. I'm interested in emerging African-American poetry, scene, and many influential masters known by us, a couple of decades by African-American poets. I've read poems of Ben over years for a long time. And his works still rolling and changing. You know, some of the former poets like Robert Fensky, or Louise Glück, Robert Hass, Gove. And you know these are also different aspect of art form itself. It's poetry, about exploring language and other selves.
Poetry I mean for social protest, poetry of the theory, literary, social theory to be consider. And poetry still used for as an expression way for us feel like to be a human. I think, all of these things are fascinating. I think the poetry is add their root are interested in, human experience, what I feel in the life and all the contradictions and questions come with being a human, and using their poem to speak that. Poets do lots of different ways，who was like Kevin Young, poet of currency like Young, our new poet name Lily Long Soldier who is a native American about that history, such a beautiful long history of native American. I'm interested in poets like Mark Doty, he writes about eight crises in America and his poetry is talking about experience as a gay man and what feels he survived from this crisis just about 30 years ago.
Carrying on other person and now his poems are thinking about more calamity in a different way. Like the older, like everyone, at some points, thinking about those realities alongside of memory of the huge academic. It's really feel moving and powerful. I love the works of young poets, like Licya（此处人名录音模糊），another American poet, whose work is really made of passion, and draws from many different traditions. The tradition of the poems that speaks back to, and quotes from Walt Whitman, and it also thinking about what growing up as a native American in America. Jaco Brown's poetry it's really beautiful and passionate, and expression of identity, sexuality, black likes home of American poetics. There are so many voices and really fascinating.
[译文] 我认为，在当今这个文化及其多元的美国，诗歌无论是从创作形式、内涵和内容、以及人们的阅读方式等各个方面都与以往不同，并且非常的有意思。社会上实际上有很多的群体，我对于具有移民背景的群体和来自这些群体中的诗人非常感兴趣。尤其是这些新兴的非美国裔的诗人所创作的作品。我喜欢融合和学习美籍非裔作家所创作的诗歌，从诗歌风格、所描绘的文学场景、以及广为人知的具有深远影响力的文学大师等。我这几年读了很多本的作品，这些的作品其实也一直在更新和与时俱进，并不是一成不变的，就像广为人知的知名诗人罗伯特·佛罗斯特、露易丝·格丽克、罗伯特·哈斯，高夫等等。其实，不同的诗人也有着不同的的艺术形式。诗歌就是一种探索我们自身的语言。
诗歌是一种对社会的反抗，融合了诗歌理论，文学理论和社会理论的思考，是我们作为人类感受的一种表达。我觉得这些都非常令人神魂颠倒，有着极大的吸引力。诗歌源于人们的日常生活和经验，包含作者对生活的思考，以及人们所遇到的矛盾与问题的拷问。这些复杂而深刻的人生体悟，都可以用诗歌表现出来。诗歌有着很多不同的表现方式，比如今天来的诗人凯文·杨，还有我们最近崛起的新诗人莉莉·朗，她作为一个美国本地人讲述了那些美国土著的美丽史诗。我很喜欢马克·多蒂的作品，他在诗歌中描述了在美国的八种危机，他也讲述了作为一个同性恋的经历和他在三十年前那场艾滋危机中活下来的感受。他近几年的诗歌，更多是通过另一种视角关注生活中的那些灾难和不幸。就像那些老人一样，就像所有人一样，但是他会用一个宏大的学院派视角去审视这些社会问题。这些深刻的思考与体悟，让人非常动容，并且很有震撼力。
我很喜欢年轻作家比如露西亚的诗歌作品，她的作品充满了激情，灵感来源于很多不同的传统。这些传统比如说可以从华尔特·惠特曼那个时期提炼出来，而且还有作为一个美国土著（印第安人）在美国的成长经历。杰可·布朗的诗歌也非常美，充满激情，还有他对于个人身份、性别取向、黑人成长等美国诗意的表达。有太多的声音了，他们都令人激动不已。
凤凰读书：您认为，诗歌是可流行的吗？诗人可能成为流行作家，甚至畅销书作家吗？
[译文] Well, can poetry become popular? Can poets become very famous or even become popular?
史密斯：
I think it's popular. I think more and more people are discovering that the poetry has something to do with them and their experiences, and part of that have to do with performance of poetry in the popularity of that. But there are a lot of people living both worlds, performance of poems and also read books. That's the way of huge diverse thing. There's many ways of feeling poems. You might heard that people like Beyoncé borrowed languages and highlights of poets, and they write another way of poetry. And poetry is relevant, it's not the language that grandparents use, but it's just something coming right now. I think poems are world thing, becoming popular I think it may not be motivation for every poet, but it sometimes happens.
[译文] 我认为诗人和诗作很受欢迎。我觉得现在越来越多的人们都发现诗歌的魅力，很多人能感受到，诗歌其实是人们生活经历的外化展示，因此诗歌逐渐在这些人群众变得流行起来。但同时也有一些人群，不仅是读诗，也会看小说等书籍，同时生活在这两种文学世界中。诗歌其实反映了非常庞大多元的世界，诗作中也包含着非常丰富的情感。你也许听过像碧昂斯那样的歌手，他们会借用诗人的语言和亮点进行再创作，那就是另一种诗歌了。并且诗歌的语言也在不断地更新，并不是总像老人家讲话那样文绉绉，也一直在与时俱进。我觉得诗歌是一种全球化的语言，并且现在逐渐变得非常流行。诗歌近年来的流行趋势，也为诗人创作带来一些动力，虽然并不是每个诗人都是为了变得出名和流行才写作，这不是他们的本意，但我觉得有时候他们会出名的。
凤凰读书：您是在什么时候、大概什么样的状况下，意识到自己对诗的感受力，以及自己有可能成为一个诗人的？
[译文] When do you sense the power of poetry and decide to be a poet? Do you have any related stories you'd like to share?
史密斯：
When I was in college, maybe about 19 or 20 years old. I was reading a lot of poetry and feeling helped by poets and seeing the world in the new way, that changed my life. And I love to do that same thing in my language. I remembered when I was in college, reading a poem by Sinis Cony?, one of my classes, Loving that poem, loving his name, walking around, just read out his name. At that time I really don't know much about him. And I then I learnt he taught in my school and have the opportunity to work with him when I was very young and learn from him. That experience I think is very special.
[译文] 当我读大学的时候，那时候我大约19岁20岁左右吧，我那时候读了很多的诗歌，感觉获益匪浅，并且我觉得从诗歌中找到了新的世界观。那些经历改变了我的生活，我由此希望能够用自己的语言来进行诗歌创作。记得我读大学的时候，我非常喜欢读西尼斯·科尼的诗歌作品，那时候我就每天在教室，抱着喜欢的诗集，来来回回读，反复推敲诗歌所传达出来的奥义。那时候我对作者还并不是很了解，后我听说他来我们学校任教，再后来我居然有机会能够跟着他以前工作，并从他身上学到了很多。我想这些经历对我弥足珍贵吧。
凤凰读书：很多诗人的诗歌创作，依托于他生活的环境、他的个体或民族身份、他的日常经验，或者他的个人精神生活。您的诗歌土壤通常是什么样的？您的诗是在一些什么样的状态下创作出来的？我知道您写过一些与父亲有关的诗。
[译文] Some poets write their poems rely on their living situation, personality or nationality, daily experiences or just spiritual life, where do your inspirations come from? I know you have written some poetry about your father.
史密斯：
I think it come from lots of places, the things that happened to me, and the things that are happening in the world. I concern about things that my imaginary, the things I remember, and capture things from everything. Often, my poem begins with a question, and I writing the poem to answer that question and what I think about everything.
[译文] 我的灵感来自很多地方，那些我所经历的事情，以及世界各地正在发生的事情，都给我带来很多灵感。比如说我会捕捉我的想象，也善于记录和捕捉事物。大多数时候，我的诗首先会抛出一个问题。我写诗就像是在回复那些我思考的问题，以及我对所有事的感悟。
凤凰读书：您有信仰吗？请您谈谈信仰对您写作的影响。
[译文] Do you have a faith? How does it affect your writings?
史密斯：
Yeah, I grow up with Christian as a faith, and I struggled with that for years when I got older to be independent. But I feel like that it made up the vocabulary of life, love, and about passion. I like the way that Christ figures that. So it's just a beautiful faith to be with. That remains my view and passion of God. And I more and more believe that every single language that God that it exists and is right in some way because he is always helping us, feel and understanding life and love. My faith influences my works as well, in my last book it was in a lot of ways in logical and trying to figure out my vocabulary from God. I think that's part of my life and will come to my work.
[译文] 是的，我从小都是基督徒，我信仰基督教。其实在我长大的阶段中，有很长的时间都在为独立而挣扎，但后来我渐渐意识到，基督教给我指引了生活的奥义和方向，关于生活、关于爱情、关于挚爱与热情。我很喜欢主对于生活的理解，宗教真的是非常高深和有魅力，不断带给人们上帝的旨意、观点以及热情。我也越来越坚定地相信，上帝是真实存在的，就在那给人们指引方向，引导人们去理解和感受生活与爱。我的宗教信仰影响着我的作品创作，在我最新的一本作品中，就由信仰贯穿故事逻辑，并尝试将我从上帝那得到的感悟与理解展示出来。我觉得宗教信仰就是我生活的一部分，我也会在作品中融入这些。
凤凰读书：您的作息时间是怎样的？典型的日常生活通常是怎样度过的？
[译文] This might be rude, what's your daily routine? What do you do in your daily life?
史密斯：
Yeah, I spend time with my family, I teach my students, as I get older, I don't go out quite much as my friends come to my home and eat. I love nature, I moved way from New York City 3 years ago. And so now, I spend much time among the trees and animals, and Princeton where I live right now is very quiet and beautiful. I think that helps me get to the mental place where I feel close to poetry. That's all. I don't do a lot. I travel a lot for poetry and reading. So I'm not traveling, just be with my family basically.
[译文] 嗯，一般闲暇时间，我都会和我的家人在一起，也会教一教我的学生。现在随着年龄的增加，其实也不怎么出远门，经常会在家接待朋友们，和他们一起分享美食。我喜欢大自然，3年前我从纽约搬出来了，现在住在普林斯顿，每天都有很多的时间近距离接触花草树木。我现在的居所也非常的安静和漂亮。我觉得这种环境，其实让我能找到内心的平和，让精神世界十分充实满足，这样也利于我的诗歌创作。大体就是这样，我不做太多活，我为了诗歌和读书已经去过不少地方旅行，所以其实没什么事儿的时候我也不怎么外出，就是跟家人待在一起，就是这样。
凤凰读书：如果没有诗，如果不成为诗人，您能设想自己会成为一个什么样的人吗？
[译文] If you haven't become a poet, what kind of person would you like to be?
史密斯：
I have no idea. I think about that sometimes, and I get very scared. I think if I haven't become a poet, maybe I would become a journalist. But I feel very lucky that I found poetry, what I did.
[译文] 其实我也没有什么想法，我有时候想过这个问题，但其实一想到如果没有成为诗人，我觉得还挺害怕的。我觉得，如果说当初我没有成为诗人，现在没准儿有可能成为一名职业旅行者吧，我觉得只是有可能。当然我觉得非常幸运，能够在当初开始诗歌创作成为一名诗人。
（本文根据访谈录音整理，文中部分人名为音译。）
责编：严彬
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主编：严彬（微信：larfure）
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