初潮

   --给芝加哥黑人区的一个女孩

小女孩在路上被崎岖绊了一跤

正巧碰上一颗呼啸而过的流弹

红色的血潮汩汩自她尚未成熟的身体涌出

渐僵的嘴还有话要问呼天抢地而来的母亲

MENARCHE

            --for a girl in a Chicago ghetto

Stumbling on a bumpy sidewalk

a little girl was hit by a stray bullet

Blood gushed from her immature body

Her stiffening mouth had yet to ask girlish questions

of her wailing mother