Seventh Street
Seventh Street from Cane (1923)
by Jean Toomer
Money burns the pocket, pocket hurts,
Bootleggers in silken shirts,
Ballooned, zooming Cadillacs,
Whizzing, whizzing down the street-car tracks.
SEVENTH STREET is a bastard of Prohibition and the War. A crude-boned, soft-skinned wedge of nigger life breathing its loafer air, jazz songs and love, thrusting unconscious rhythms, black reddish blood into the white and whitewashed wood of Washington. Stale soggy wood of Washington. Wedges rust in soggy wood. . . Split it! In two! Again! Shred it! . . the sun. Wedges are brilliant in the sun; ribbons of wet wood dry and blow away. Black reddish blood. Pouring for crude-boned soft-skinned life, who set you flowing? Blood suckers of the War would spin in a frenzy of dizziness if they drank your blood. Prohibition would put a stop to it. Who set you flowing? White and whitewashed disappear in blood. Who set you flowing? Flowing down the smooth asphalt of Seventh Street, in shanties, brick office buildings, theaters, drug stores, restaurants and caberets? Eddying on the corners? Swirling like a blood-red smoke up where the buzzards fly in heaven? God would not dare to suck black red blood. A Nigger God! He would duck his head in shame and call for the Judgment Day. Who set you flowing?
Money burns the pocket, pocket hurts,
Bootleggers in silken shirts,
Balooned, zooming Cadillacs,
Whizzing, whizzing down the street-car tracks.
七街
作者：菁 图默
金钱在口袋里燃烧，口袋伤痛，
私酒贩子，身穿真丝衬衫
风鼓着，凯迪拉克疾驰
在电车轨道上狂飙突进
七街是禁酒令和战争的私生子。黑人的生活，楔子一般，骨子粗暴，表皮软弱，空气中有流浪的气息，爵士音乐和爱情，不知不觉中，这种节奏，黑中带红的血液楔入了华盛顿这块白色，或是粉饰成白色的木头；楔入华盛顿这块腐朽沉闷的木头。朽木中的楔子在生锈…劈开！两半！再来！切碎！…阳光，楔子在阳光中发光；丝带般的湿木干了，吹散了。黑中带红的血，为了粗暴的骨头和软弱的表皮而流，谁让血流？嗜血的战争吸干你的血，在疯狂的眩晕中转动，禁酒令让它停下。谁让血流？白色和粉饰的白色在血中消失。谁让血流？沿着七街光滑的沥青路面、棚屋、砖墙办公楼、剧院、杂货店、餐馆、舞台流着？在街角形成涡流？象血红的烟转动，秃鹰在天堂里飞？上帝不敢吸黑红的血。黑人的上帝！他会在羞耻中藏住他的头，等候最后的审判。谁让血流？
金钱在口袋里燃烧，口袋伤痛，
私酒贩子，身穿真丝衬衫
风鼓着，凯迪拉克疾驰
在电车轨道上狂飙突进
-Translated by Jessica Jie Tian, Shanghai, China
Siebte Straße aus Cane (1923)
von Jean Toomer
Geld brennt die Tasche, Tasche tut weh,
Alkoholschieber in Seidenhemden,
Aufgeblähte, summende Cadillacs
Sausen, sausen die Straßenbahngleise runter.
Siebte Straße ist ein Bastard von Prohibition und Krieg. Ein grobknochiger, weichhäutiger Keil Niggerleben atmet seine Faulenzerluft, Jazzlieder und Liebe, schiebt unbewusste Rhythmen, schwarzes rötliches Blut ins weiße und geweißte Holz Washingtons. Abgestandenes nasses Holz Washingtons. Keile rosten in nassem Holz. ... Spalt es! Entzwei! Nochmal! Zerfetz es! ... die Sonne. Keile strahlen in der Sonne; nasse Holzfetzen vertrocknen und verfliegen. Schwarzes rötliches Blut. Ausgeschüttet für grobknochiges weichhäutiges Leben, wer hieß dich fließen? Kriegsblutsauger wirbelten in rasendem Schwindel, tränken sie dein Blut. Prohibition würde Halt machen damit. Wer hieß dich fließen? Weiß und geweißt verschwinden in Blut. Wer hieß dich fließen? Runterfließen den glatten Asphalt der Siebten Straße, in Schuppen, Backsteinbürobauten, Kinos, Apotheken, Restaurants und Kabaretts? Strudeln an den Ecken? Kreiseln wie ein blutroter Rauch hoch wo die Bussarde im Himmel fliegen? Gott würde nicht wagen, schwarzes rotes Blut zu saugen. Ein Niggergott! Er würde den Kopf einziehen vor Scham und das Jüngste Gericht einberufen. Wer hieß dich fließen?
Geld brennt die Tasche, Tasche tut weh,
Alkoholschieber in Seidenhemden,
Aufgeblähte, summende Cadillacs
Sausen, sausen die Straßenbahngleise runter.
-Übersetzt von Irmgard Wagner
About the Poet: Jean Toomer (1894-1967)
Born in Washington D.C., Toomer’s heritage was racially diverse, and his education wide-ranging. His literary works include short stories, poems, and the experimental novel Cane. Though best known for writing about the Black experience in America, Toomer joined the Religious Society of Friends in mid-life, and devoted much of his time and energy in later years to work for Quaker relief and peace initiatives.
About the Poem: Seventh Street
Part lyric, part short story and part radical experiment in language, this excerpt from the novel Cane captures a glimpse of life on the streets of Washington in the 1920s. It would be hard to find a better illustration of how a city neighborhood can change through time than to compare the world Toomer describes with the reality of Chinatown today.
“Seventh Street” from CANE by Jean Toomer. Copyright 1923 by Boni Liveright, renewed 1951 by Jean Toomer. Used by permission of Liveright Publishing Corporation. This selection may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher.
