一種藝術

在飛機上看了「偷穿高跟鞋」（In Her Shoes）這部電影，出乎意料地比想像中有深度。原本以為卡麥蓉狄亞（Cameron Diaz）主演的電影多半是膚淺的娛樂片，只是抱著不看白不看的心情觀賞這部剛在台灣上映的影片，沒想到這部影片細緻地探討了包括家庭、人生觀等問題，讓人反省時下的主流價值觀與刻板印象。

其中我最喜歡妹妹Maggie在老人社區工作的那段情節；她為失明的退休教授朗誦Elizabeth Bishop的詩作《一種藝術》（One Art）令我頻頻拭淚，也引得坐隔壁的那對英國夫婦好奇地偷偷打量我，讓我心中直嘀咕這些英國人怎麼能夠填字遊戲玩個沒完沒了不睡覺！

One Art – by Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

---Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

這首詩是美國女詩人Elizabeth Bishop非常有名的作品；詩中對於「失去」所表現的豁達態度反而突顯出她的傷痛，而這種不溢於言表的感觸則更加令人為她的「失去」感到心痛。電影中安排這段以突顯出Rose與Maggie兩姊妹雖然因一時齟齬而分隔兩地，表面上巴不得從此跟對方一刀兩斷，事實上心裡卻如同這首詩所傳達的意境一般難以釋懷。

Elizabeth Bishop不斷強調失去的藝術並不難掌握（the art of losing isn’t hard to master）；失去了鑰匙所帶來的幾小時不方便並不難克服，甚至失去了母親的手錶、深愛的房子，都不是難以克服的慘劇。她誇張地表示她失去了兩座深愛的城市、兩條河流、一整個洲，然而對於這些逝去事物的想念也不是難以克服的悲劇。

失去了一整個洲還不算悲劇嗎？能不令人傷痛嗎？在此之前作者不斷強調對於「失去」的藝術並不難掌控；不斷重複的「the art of losing isn’t hard to master」像洗腦一般企圖說服自己「失去」並非多大的慘劇，也因此讓人對詩中所呈現的豁達半信半疑。

然而比起失去這些物質性的事物，失去你又是如何呢？Elizabeth Bishop最後強調就如同失去以上事物，失去你同樣證明「失去」的藝術並不難駕馭，雖然，寫下來時，或許看似一個悲劇。電影透過妹妹Maggie朗誦這首詩來表現兩姊妹分隔兩地的錐心之痛，不需要多餘的詞彙便能讓人瞭解她當時的心情。