Wednesday, October 1, 2014

One Man's Maple Moon: Butterfly Tanka by Margaret Chula

English Original

a butterfly perches
on the bamboo chair
breathing in the rain
      if I were alone
      I would dance       

Always Filling, Always Full, 2001

Margaret Chula


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

蝴蝶棲息
在竹藤椅上
在雨中呼吸
    如果我獨自一人
    我會翩翩起舞

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

蝴蝶栖息
在竹藤椅上
在雨中呼吸
    如果我独自一人
    我会翩翩起舞


Bio Sketch

Margaret Chula has published two collections of tanka: Always Filling, Always Full and Just This. She has promoted tanka through her one-woman dramatization, “Three Women Who Loved Love”, which traveled to Krakow, New York, Boston, Portland, Ottawa, and Ogaki, Japan. Maggie currently serves as president of the Tanka Society of America.

1 comment:

  1. Modeled on traditional Japanese tanka, this poem is made up of five poetic phrases, structured into two parts (“jo,” the preface, and the main statement) with a pivot (L3).

    Combined with the symbolically rich image of a butterfly, the effective use of the second conditional in Ls 4&5 adds emotional weight and psychological depth to the poem.

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