2007-12-28 22:23:43Yvette

喜歡教詩的理由

剛剛在一個學生的 Weblog 看到她介紹 Gwendolyn Brooks 的 ”We Real Cool” 時寫了這一句話:「這是一首一定要讀出聲的詩,多年前上詩時,聽到YV 唸的版本,至今深刻難忘。」這個學生就是 Yvette 的白目雙胞胎,現在在美國也收了一個日本家教學生,正在教她唸英文詩。前天收到她的卡片,分享她的教學感動。真安慰!

Yvette 去年教這首詩的時候跟學生提到:「有人說 June 是一個女孩的名字,而不是月份名字。」於是在期末考就得到了上圖這個答案。當我看到 ”We jazz June.” 只剩「十八禁」的時候,只能讚嘆佩服這個新聞系的男生!

Yvette 才要將 Brooks 自己唸的版本貼上去留言,發現白目雙胞胎做得更徹底。現在將它轉載過來,希望她不介意打字被盜用。

(特別再度介紹這個好得不得了的好站:www.poets.org)


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We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks

THE POOL PLAYERS.
SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL.

We real cool. We
Left school. We

Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We
Die soon.

在網上找到詩人自己唸的版本,激動不已。一時興起,把整個Audio Clip 寫成Transcript,要請大家享用。

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15433

From The Bean Eaters by Gwendolyn Brooks, published by Harpers. ©
1960 by Gwendolyn Brooks. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

Audio Clip
May 03, 1983
Guggenhiem Museum
From the Academy Audio Archive


Brooks: Thank you. I guess I better offer you “We Real Cool.” Most
young people know me all may by that poem. I don’t mean that I
dislike it, but I would prefer it as the textbook compilers and the
embologists(?) would assume that I’ve written a few other poems. I
wrote it because I was passing by a pool hall in my community one
afternoon during school time, and I saw they’re in, a little bunch
of boys I say here in this poem, seven, and they were shooting pool.
But instead of asking myself, “Why aren’t they in school?” I
asked myself. “I wonder how they feel about themselves?” And just
perhaps they might have considered themselves contemptuous of the
establishmentalists. They wanted to feel they were contemptuous of
the establishment might want to bump their noses at the
establishment. And I represent this establishment with the month
June which was nice, gentle, non-controversial and joyable,
pleasant, fragrant month that everybody loves. This poem has been
banned here and there because of the word Jazz, which some people
have considered sexual reference. That was not my intention, but I
have no objection if it helps everybody. But I was thinking of
music.


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