低洼的切萨皮克海湾--马克辛.库敏

无论在交叉胸前拖带法，
托头拖带法，抓发拖带法究竟怎么样，

疲惫的夏天把你的手放到我肩上
看着我的眼睛回索，

当你从不可能的高度跃起，头降落在水面之上
这种跳步如何

以便你永远不要忽视溺水者，
或如果他靠得足够近，

救生圈连接到绳子之处
你可以咒骂采石场，然后

把他拖到安全的地方，或万不得已的时候
你用力拽着这个没意识的灵魂

到码头那个地方，把他脸朝下放下，
清理他的嘴，跨坐在他的双腿上，

用你的手按压他肋骨架的两侧
有节奏地呼出不好的空气

呼入好的空气，祈祷他会呼吸，
我们反复练习了神圣的方法

这个夏天我十八岁赢得
水上安全指导员徽章

这孩子来自埃法拉塔，PA那地方
我夜复一夜地在烂船库的避风处，

在小而阴冷潮湿的帐篷里
在低洼的切萨皮克海湾上摸透？
Whatever happened to the cross-chest carry,
the head carry, the hair carry,

the tired-swimmer-put-your-hands-on-my-shoulders-
and-look-in-my-eyes retrieval, and what

became of the stride jump when you leap
from impossible heights and land with your head

above water so that you never lose sight
of your drowning person, or if he is close enough, where

is the lifesaver ring attached to a rope
you can hurl at your quarry, then haul

him to safety, or as a last resort
where is the dock onto which you tug

the unconscious soul, place him facedown,
clear his mouth, straddle his legs and press

with your hands on both sides of his rib cage
to the rhythm of out goes the bad air in

comes the good and pray he will breathe,
hallowed methods we practiced over and over

the summer I turned eighteen to win
my Water Safety Instructor’s badge

and where is the boy from Ephrata, PA
I made out with night after night in the lee

of the rotting boathouse at a small dank camp
on the lower Chesapeake Bay?
“The Lower Chesapeake Bay” by Maxine Kumin from Where I Live. © W. W. Norton and Company, 2010.