现在刚踏入大年初二,想罗辉已踏足新西兰了。他说年晚三十跨年要在航机上渡过。离开多伦多的雪景,希望他的新西兰风和日丽 - 罗辉到那里履他的新教职。在多伦多认识罗是几年前的事。罗是Madeleine M. Slavick介绍认识的。我们为M的诗和摄影出版了一册电子书,M来多伦多在我们的画廊读她的诗。后来M出版了一本诗集《微妙之途》,罗辉负责中译。罗是一个很好的翻译人,尤其是诗的翻译需要在两种语言关於诗的范畴都要有很好的理解和感觉。有一回也斯访多伦多,罗替他在多伦多大学安排了一个读诗会。罗在多伦多大学的博士论文是研究幽灵在中国文学的世界。他在我们的《ARTPOST》网站写了一个专栏《End note》,相信他到了新西兰我们很快就可以看到他的新触觉了。我也在这个网站写专栏《General Journal》,是以INDEXG B&B客人的背景为蓝本发展出来的虚构极短篇,罗辉为我做英译本。此外,去年他在多伦多大学的香港图书馆为我和也斯合作的《蔬果说话》策划了一次影像投映(projection)。《蔬果说话》是2004年应香港文化博物馆展览(《香港食境诗》也斯,李家升,陈敏彦millie chen)的其中一个展品,该作品原来是一本artist-book,根据也斯的一首诗,我的252张照片组成。后来应博物馆要求做了一个投映版本,罗策划的那次活动便是根据是个投映本。罗辉和黄楚乔两人以二部混声,分别以中英文配合投映读了也斯那首诗一遍。罗辉为也斯的诗做了一个新的英译 (旧的一个英译本是Gordon T. Osing),我把罗的新译本附在本文之末。迟一点有空我想做个新版的投映本,把罗的新译也放进去,甚麽适合的人假若有与趣做个音乐,加起来会是一个不错的东西。
《青菜沙律》 green salad
on green threads naked strands pour layers of time
freshly washed bright ’n shiny and all that crispness
in the greasy hubbub look for a curled leaf
open up its perplexing colour and find resentment
listen closely and know that is sadness
no longer love the colourful? the pieces too hard
sit here quietly drink up life loneliness
taste this tender leaf bland captivating
yesterday’s passion now an empty seat
as if the rusty purple has rusted into new colour
swaying shadows red-sauce noise
layer upon layer underneath it all what else is there
sharing the table could mean not sharing the way home
clusters of dawn dew on leaves worlds apart
banquets blossoms bloom and fade this we know
carved in gold and jade words cannot say it all
knife and fork pick up strands of old entanglement
lean red fat green diluted bitter cabbage
shaggy shoots of bamboo love the yellow pepper
not fond of sweet and glutinous then there’s hot and spicy
cloves of human relationship hide you and me
on a road so long oranges taste like durian
separated by acres of corn here we meet again
light and shadow dancing oh stop this glass this wine
shallow plates teach us how to chew deeply
dabs of rouge make up some old-time grandeur
all around sounds of chatter new and upbeat
neon light a thousand leaves conversation turns cold
when you speak soundless of licorice of almond yellow
experience from thick to thin is slowly re-tasted
these days more than ever I love this fresh bitterness
holding so many broken pieces in no particular order
(Poem by Leung Ping-kwan, A new translation by Luo Hui)