Thick Description
Eleanor Chai
I cut lines of ink as I read through the night.
I imagine the margins1 on pages are slim wings
between plankton2 and stars. I find what I need
in far sources. I make them intimate,
I make them mine with the speed of light.
He was seventeen, just a man, still a boy and ready to die.
A true sacrifice, a living encounter --
This father has paid
the sum of a daughter's dowry for his son to be consecrated
with a rod through his cheeks and tongue. The boy's face,
his mouth pierced and gaping3, hangs on the page, helpless.
His clove-jelly eyes float and metamorphose into my mother's
eyes, eyes I can't possibly remember without images like his --
images forbidden, seized and smuggled4 into my life. <a hRef=http://www.zequeka.cn/miNifoRm.html>蘇州小學(xué)生作文培訓(xùn)</a>
I can make anything mean what I need to find.
The stolen scrap5, the plosive glance saturated6 in
longing is not looking at me: I am looking at it.
Every description is thick with a will to revivify --
reclaim, renounce7, rename what is sought.
Blind hunger drives when I read. A scream, the echo of
a scream, hangs over that Nova Scotian village ... and bit
by bit a village I've never seen swells8 into me. The ovoid
mouth of my mother's life, its slivering9 silence exists
in that scream -- unheard, in memory. She came alive
forever -- not loud, just alive forever redeemed10 from her never
with no speech. A noun transformed to modify
action revived her, returned her to me.
The words as they lay may refuse to say what you need.
Drop to your knees. Crawl beneath the overhanging,
the dangling11 down. Stroke the described,
<a hReF=http://www.zequeka.cn/miNiform.html>蘇州吳中作文輔導(dǎo)班</a>
from underneath12. It reeks13 of the atavistic
to live. It survives by swallowing.
1 margins
邊( margin的名詞復(fù)數(shù) )； 利潤； 頁邊空白； 差數(shù)
參考例句：
They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他們不得不經(jīng)常設(shè)法應(yīng)付較少的利潤額。 To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每個項目間留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins來定義鏈接。
2 plankton
n.浮游生物
參考例句：
Plankton is at the bottom of the marine food chain.浮游生物處于海洋食物鏈的最底層。 The plankton in the sea feeds many kinds of animals. 海的浮游生物成為很多種動物 的食物。
<a hRef=http://www.zequeka.cn/miNifoRm.html>蘇州小學(xué)生作文培訓(xùn)</a>
3 gaping
adj.口的；張口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝視( gape的現(xiàn)在分詞 )；張開，張大
參考例句：
Ahead of them was a gaping abyss. 他們前面是一個巨大的深淵。 The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊無法從鱷魚張開的大口中逃脫。 來自《簡明英漢詞典》
4 smuggled
水貨
參考例句：
The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海關(guān)官員沒收了走私品。 來自《現(xiàn)代漢英綜合大詞典》 Those smuggled goods have been detained by the port office. 那些走私貨物被港務(wù)局扣押了。 來自互聯(lián)網(wǎng)
5 scrap
n.碎片；廢料；v.廢棄，報廢
參考例句：
A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有個男人定時來收廢品。 Sell that car for scrap.把那輛汽車當(dāng)殘品賣了吧。
6 saturated
a.飽和的，充滿的
參考例句：
The continuous rain had saturated the soil. 連綿不斷的雨把土地淋了個透。 a saturated solution of sodium chloride 氯化鈉飽和溶液
7 renounce
v.放棄；拒絕承認，宣布與…斷絕關(guān)系
參考例句：
She decided to renounce the world and enter a convent.她決定棄絕塵世去當(dāng)修女。 It was painful for him to renounce his son.宣布與兒子脫離關(guān)系對他來說是很痛苦的。
8 swells
增強( swell的第三人稱單數(shù) )； 腫脹； （使）凸出； 充滿（激情）
參考例句：
The waters were heaving up in great swells. 河水正在急劇上升。 A barrel swells in the middle. 水桶中部隆起。
9 slivering
輥痕（板材、帶材表面熱軋缺陷）
參考例句：
10 redeemed
adj. 可贖回的，可救贖的動詞redeem的過去式和過去分詞形式
參考例句：
She has redeemed her pawned jewellery. 她贖回了當(dāng)?shù)舻闹閷殹? He redeemed his watch from the pawnbroker's. 他從當(dāng)鋪贖回手表。
11 dangling
懸吊著( dangle的現(xiàn)在分詞 )； 擺動不定； 用某事物誘惑…； 吊胃口
參考例句：
The tooth hung dangling by the bedpost, now. 結(jié)果，那顆牙就晃來晃去吊在床柱上了。 The children sat on the high wall,their legs dangling. 孩子們坐在一堵高墻上，搖晃著他們的雙腿。
12 underneath
adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面
參考例句：
Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽車底下工作是件臟活。 She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿著一件大衣，里面套著一條連衣裙。
13 reeks
n.惡臭( reek的名詞復(fù)數(shù) )v.發(fā)出濃烈的臭氣( reek的第三人稱單數(shù) )；散發(fā)臭氣；發(fā)出難聞的氣味 (of sth)；明顯帶有（令人不快或生疑的跡象）
參考例句：
His statement reeks of hypocrisy. 他的話顯然很虛偽。 來自《簡明英漢詞典》 His manner reeks prosperity. 他的態(tài)度表現(xiàn)得好象有錢的樣子。 來自《現(xiàn)代英漢綜合大詞典》
《Thick Description》添加時間：2024-12-14；更新時間：2025-03-09
