2007年02月20日(火) 美国からのジョーク

85歳に近づくハワイ在住の恩師が
次なるジョークを転送してくれた。
中国語で米国は美国だ。
そこに こうした作品をネット上に展開し
転送していく文化があるのは
美しい国への渇望の証ともとれる。


MONUMENT FOR GEORGE W. BUSH


Dear Friends:


I have the distinguished honor of being on the
committee to raise $5,000,000 for a monument of George
W. Bush. We originally wanted to put him on Mt.Rushmore
until we discovered there was not enough room
for two more faces.

We then decided to erect a statue of George W in the
Washington , D.C. Hall Of Fame. We were in a quandary
as to where the statue should be placed. It was not
proper to place it beside the statue of George
Washington, who never told a lie, or beside Richard
Nixon, who never told the truth, since George W could
never tell the difference.

We finally decided to place it beside Christopher
Columbus, the greatest Republican of them all. He
didn't know where he was going, and when he got there
he did not know where he was. He returned not knowing
where he had been, destroyed the well-being of the
majority of the population while he was there, and did
it all on someone else's money.

Thank you.

George W. Bush Monument Committee
(so far we have collected $1.35)


段落1のtwo more facesは two-facedというフレーズをベースに
している。リンカーン大統領は two-facedであると非難されたとき
仮にそうだとしたらこの顔を使うと思うかね?と切り返している。



2007年02月11日(日) Prison vs. Work

以下、米国の知人より頂いたもの。
監獄と職場を比較したもので
とくに面白いかなと思ったものを
選びました。
その中でも最初の3つはなかなか。


Prison vs. Work

Just in case you ever get these two environments mixed up, this should make things a little bit clearer.

@ prison you spend the majority of your time in a 10X10 cell;
@ work you spend the majority of your time in an 8X8 cubicle.

@ prison you get three meals a day fully paid for;
@ work you get a break for one meal and you have to pay for it.

@ prison you get time off for good behavior;
@ work you get more work for good behavior.

@ prison you spend most of your life inside bars wanting to get out;
@ work you spend most of your time wanting to get out and go inside bars.

@ prison you must deal with sadistic wardens;
@ work they are called managers.



2007年02月03日(土) I AM MANY
Richard Viaさんに
弟さんで詩人でもあるBernardさんが
捧げたもの
Richardさんはぼくの恩師で ハワイはオアフ在住
言葉と心の自由さを求めるのが詩の世界なら
これぞ詩という感じだなあ
○×人間になりがちなぼくたちに
心洗われるような言葉の数々を送ってくれる


I AM MANY
for Richard

I was a few,
The years have made me many.
I am more, I am less.
I am my memories.
I am my unfulfilled desires.
I am the work I have done.
I am my loves.

Inside me is the child,
and the youth,
and vigorous manhood,
and creeping old age.
The evidence is there
Like tree rings,
To be revealed when cut near the root.

When the child jumps out,
Let there be no surprise,
Whether second hood or hundredth,
Or no distress when
the youth swings
To push the limits again
Or in a pretense of manly vigor
there is an attempt at holy crusade.

There are so many yesterdays that I appear old.
Inside I am young.
I almost became fully mature
but there are lingering dreams,
And I am Many.


Bernard S. Via. Jr.
January 2007


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