感受东方-盖尔.布兰黛丝

我常常认为东方
就是我右手指向的
任何地方。我六岁，我的身体
是空间的中心，轴
围着它向各个方向旋转。
当我得知方向是固定的时，我们的身体
移动穿过空间，像鱼一样，
东方是日出之处，而且更有甚之，
湖泊。芝加哥周围，密歇根湖
就是东方那东西，
我的身体总是能感受到
其存在。从城里乘车回家，
在后座上打盹，我也永远知道
我们在哪里。
现在生活在西部，我发现
方向模糊如烟雾。我的右手
指向山，指向棕榈树，
但它们的存在是我身体内
若隐若现的光。我迷失时，
我就会做，闭上我的眼睛
努力感受东方，
追溯我记忆里清晰的海岸线，
我的血液里是湖的吸引力，
跟着三个右转弯回家。
I used to think East
was wherever I pointed my right
hand. I was six, my body
the center of space, the axis
on which directions turned.
When I learned directions
are fixed, that our bodies
move through space
like fish, East became
the sunrise, but, even more so,
the lake. Around Chicago, Lake
Michigan is what is East,
and my body could always feel
its presence. Riding home
from the city, dozing
in the back seat, I always knew
where we were.

Living out West now, I find
directions hazy as smog. My right
hand points to mountains, to palms,
but their presence looms light
in my body. When I get lost,
and I do, I close my eyes
and try to feel East,
tracing sharp shores of memory,
the pull of the lake in my blood,
following the three right turns home.
“Feeling East” by Gayle Brandeis from The Selfless Bliss of the Body. © Finishing Line Press, 2017.