silence
seeks the center
of every tree and rock,
that thing we hold closest --
the end of songs
Letters in Time: Sixty Short Poems, 2005
Michael McClintock
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
寂靜尋求
每一個樹和岩石
的中心，
那最貼近我們的事 --
歌曲的結束
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
寂静寻求
每一个树和岩石
的中心，
那最贴近我们的事 --
歌曲的结束
Bio Sketch
Michael McClintock's lifework in haiku, tanka, and related literature spans over four decades. His many contributions to the field include six years as president of the Tanka Society of America (2004-2010) and contributing editor, essayist, and poet for dozens of journals, anthologies, landmark collections and critical studies. McClintock now lives in Clovis, California, where he works as an independent scholar, consultant for public libraries, and poet. Meals at Midnight [tanka], Sketches from the San Joaquin [haiku] and Streetlights: Poetry of Urban Life in Modern English Tanka, are some of his recent titles.
This is a well-crafted 'middle-of-the-story' tanka that leaves 'dreaming room' for the reader's emotion and reflection (on, such as the connection between the two parts of the poem, or the meanings, literal and figurative, of L5).
ReplyDeleteThis poem can be read against Basho's haiku below:
stillness -
seeping into the rocks
the cicada's voice