Tuesday, October 14, 2014

One Man's Maple Moon: Loneliness Tanka by Joyce Wong

English Original

on the beach,
loneliness stretches out
at night,
multiplies with
the countless grains of sand

GUSTS, 13, Spring/Summer 2011

Joyce Wong


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

在沙灘上,
寂寞向海岸延伸
到了晚上,
像無數沙粒
一樣地擴增

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

在沙滩上,
寂寞向海岸延伸
到了晚上,
像无数沙粒
一样地扩增


Bio Sketch

Joyce Wong is a quiet artistic soul who loves reading, writing, music, and poetry. She began writing tanka in 2010, inspired by Machi Tawara’s Salad Anniversary. Her tanka have been published in GUSTS, Moonbathing, and Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, Volume 4. One of her tanka was honored with a Certificate of Merit from the Japan Tanka Poets' Society in the 7th International Tanka Festival Competition, 2012. She lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

1 comment:

  1. Joyce personifies loneliness and extends it throughout the entire poem. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first tanka in which extended personification is employed.

    And combined with the seashore setting, her choice of verbs is thematically and emotionally effective, adding aesthetic depth to the poem.

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