a colleague wishes me
Thanksgiving cheer --
but I have
a desk full of dark
anniversaries unspoken
M. Kei
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
一位同事祝福我
感恩節快樂 --
然而我有
滿桌黑暗
的無言紀念日
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
一位同事祝福我
感恩节快乐 --
然而我有
满桌黑暗
的无言纪念日
Bio Sketch
M. Kei is a tall ship sailor and award-winning poet. He is the editor-in-chief of Take Five : Best Contemporary Tanka, and the author of Slow Motion : The Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack (Recommend Reading by the Chesapeake Bay Project). He is the editor of Atlas Poetica : A Journal of Poetry of Place in Contemporary Tanka and compiler of the Bibliography of English-Language Tanka. He has published over 1500 tanka poems. He also published a gay Asian-themed fantasy novel, Fire Dragon. Twitter: @kujakupoet
The contrasts between the two parts of the tanka are poignant, and Kei's emotionally effective use of 'dark' adds psychological depth to the poem.
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