My Education at the Zoo

Poet: Polly Clark

There is a rule which I am born knowing,
from the moment I slip out, and my mouth

becomes that anguished, red, newborn hole,
its ridge of unborn teeth uselessly bared.

I know this rule and am flailing against it,
but in later years I come to an uneasy acceptance;

my unusual physical strength is a testament
to its weight. When I am 16

I can push a barrow overflowing
with rolling cow haunch and pony carcass

all the way up the hill to the wolves.
Only the strongest of the strong men can do it:

there is laughter, and something else, a recognition.
On New Year’s Eve, when one year metamorphoses

into a dream of another, they kiss me
with uneasy, snarling kisses.

The Amazon parrot whirls at me,
a green screech as I approach his nest;

next door, the cockatoo is pacing up and down,
he clambers up me as if I were a gnarled tropical tree,

lodges his head down my shirt between my breasts,
murmurs (you must incline your head to hear his words)

fuck you bitch, his yellow eyes blinking.
I’m afraid at the end I begin to fall apart,

and accidentally set three pairs of lovebirds free
and the cockatoo, who simply climbs the nearest tree

and hurls insults (but suddenly the words begin to come,
secretly when I am alone at night).

The real men bask at lunchtime, like lions keeping
their violence to themselves while the sun is hot.

At night, at party after party, I find it hard
to keep from being discovered or blurting the truth.

I drink ten pints, laugh at all insults,
refuse to retreat, as finally, amidst howls

of laughter at 3am, one of them emerges
wearing two bras and a nightie, his face covered in paint

and everyone cheering his victory in the game
that he is playing, that now I know the name of.

我的动物园学历

波莉•克拉克 作
杨 炼 译

有一个规则我生而知之
从我呱呱坠地，我的嘴

成为剧痛的、红艳的、新生的小洞，
未冒出牙齿的牙龈无用地张开。

我知晓这规则并殊死抵抗，
但后来的岁月中我不得不渐渐接受

那重量，我超常的体力就是
明证，当我十六岁

我能推着双轮车，堆满
颤颤悠悠的牛腰肉和鲜马肉

一口气推上山顶的狼穴。
惟有壮汉中的最强者才有这本事：

我听见笑声，还有别的，一种确认
除夕夜，当一年蜕变为

另一年的梦，他们吻我
一阵乱哄哄的，不安的吻。

亚马逊鹦鹉向我疾飞
我靠近他的窝就是一阵绿色的尖叫；

隔壁，凤头大鹦鹉逡巡踱步
他攀爬我，仿佛我是棵纠结的热带树

他的头探入我衬衣下的双乳间，
咕哝（你得侧耳倾听他的言语）

操你个母狗，他黄色的眼睛闪烁。
终于恐惧攫住我，我慌了，

一不小心放飞了三对情侣鸟
而凤头大鹦鹉，就坐在最近的树上

恶狠狠地骂着脏话（突然间词语来了，
隐秘地，当我深夜时独自一人）。

真正男人晌午时有种慵懒，像狮子
在骄阳下为自己蕴含着暴力。

入夜，连串的晚会上，我发现极难
不被找到或不泄露真相。

我喝下十品脱啤酒，冷嘲一切辱骂，
拒绝退让，最后，在凌晨三点

狂笑声爆发中，他们之间某一个
带着两只乳罩披件睡衣，粉墨登场

谁都欢呼他玩成了大赢家
这游戏的名称，此刻我终于知道。