"The Opposites Game" For Patricia Maisch This day my students and I play the Opposites Game with a line from Emily Dickinson. My life had stood a loaded gun, it goes and I write it on the board, pausing so they can call out the antonyms – My Your Life Death Had stood ? Will sit A Many Loaded Empty Gun ? Gun. For a moment, very much like the one between lightning and its sound, the children just stare at me, and then it comes, a flurry, a hail storm of answers – Flower, says one. No, Book, says another. That's stupid, cries a third, the opposite of a gun is a pillow. Or maybe a hug, but not a book, no way is it a book. With this, the others gather their thoughts and suddenly it’s a shouting match. No one can agree, for every student there’s a final answer. It's a song, a prayer, I mean a promise, like a wedding ring, and later a baby. Or what’s that person who delivers babies? A midwife? Yes, a midwife. No, that’s wrong. You're so wrong you’ll never be right again. It's a whisper, a star, it's saying I love you into your hand and then touching someone's ear. Are you crazy? Are you the president of Stupid-land? You should be, When's the election? It’s a teddy bear, a sword, a perfect, perfect peach. Go back to the first one, it's a flower, a white rose. When the bell rings, I reach for an eraser but a girl snatches it from my hand. Nothing's decided, she says, We’re not done here. I leave all the answers on the board. The next day some of them have stopped talking to each other, they’ve taken sides. There's a Flower club. And a Kitten club. And two boys calling themselves The Snowballs. The rest have stuck with the original game, which was to try to write something like poetry. It's a diamond, it's a dance, the opposite of a gun is a museum in France. It's the moon, it's a mirror, it's the sound of a bell and the hearer. The arguing starts again, more shouting, and finally a new club. For the first time I dare to push them. Maybe all of you are right, I say. Well, maybe. Maybe it's everything we said. Maybe it’s everything we didn't say. It's words and the spaces for words. They're looking at each other now. It's everything in this room and outside this room and down the street and in the sky. It's everyone on campus and at the mall, and all the people waiting at the hospital. And at the post office. And, yeah, it's a flower, too. All the flowers. The whole garden. The opposite of a gun is wherever you point it. Don’t write that on the board, they say. Just say poem. Your death will sit through many empty poems.
〈反義詞遊戲〉 給佩翠西亞.梅許 這天我和學生們玩反義詞遊戲 這句出自艾蜜莉 · 狄金森的詩 「我生命中曾立著一把上膛的槍。」 我寫在黑板上 暫停,使他們可以說出反義詞── 我的、你的 生命、死亡 曾立著、將坐著 一、很多 上膛的、空的 槍? 槍 有一段時間 就像在閃電與雷聲之間的空檔 孩子們只是盯著我 然後來了,一陣暴風、 一陣冰雹般的答案── 「花!」一個人說 「不,是書!」另一人說 「那太愚蠢了!」第三人喊說 「槍的反義詞是枕頭,或可能是擁抱 但不是書,不可能是書。」 就這樣,其他人理出了頭緒 也加入了戰局 互不同意 每個學生都有一個最終的答案 應該是一首歌、一次祈禱, 我是說一個承諾,像是結婚戒指 然後生一個嬰兒 接生嬰兒的人是誰? 助產士嗎? 是的,是助產士 不,那是錯的 你大錯特錯,永遠得不到正解 答案應是一句耳語,一顆星星 答案是對你的手說「我愛你」 然後觸摸某人的耳朵 你瘋了嗎?你是愚蠢國的總統嗎? 你很有資格。什麼時候要選舉? 答案是一隻泰迪熊、一把劍、 一顆十分完美的桃子 回到第一個答案 是一朵花,一朵白玫瑰 當鐘聲響起,我拿起板擦 但一個女孩把它從我手中搶走 「還沒完呢!」她說 「我們尚未完成。」 我將所有的答案留在黑板上 隔天他們有人不跟彼此說話 他們壁壘分明 有一個花朵俱樂部 一個小貓俱樂部 還有兩個男孩自稱「雪球」 其他人繼續玩原本的遊戲 試著寫像詩的東西 是鑽石,是舞蹈 槍的反義詞是法國的美術館 是月亮,是鏡子 是鈴鐺的聲音和旁聽者 爭論再度開始,更多叫喊 最後有一個新俱樂部 我首度敢於推他們一把 「也許你們全是對的,」我說 也許 也許槍的反義詞是我們講的所有東西 也許是我們沒講的所有事物 是很多言語和留給言語的空間 現在他們看著彼此 槍的反義詞是所有這間房間的事物 也在房間外,街道上,天空中 是校園與購物中心裡的所有人 以及所有在醫院等待的人 和在郵局等待的人 以及,對,也是一朵花 所有的花,整個花園 槍的反義詞是你瞄準的任何事物 「別寫上去,」他們說 就說是詩歌吧