unable
to buy postcards
in Auschwitz
I pick a fallen leaf
fold it into my notebook
A Hundred Gourds, 3:2, March 2014
Sonam Chhoki
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
在奧斯威辛集中營
無法買到
一張明信片
我揀起一片落葉
將它折疊放入筆記本中
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
在奥斯威辛集中营
无法买到
一张明信片
我拣起一片落叶
将它折叠放入笔记本中
Bio Sketch
Born
and raised in the eastern Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, Sonam Chhoki has
been writing Japanese short forms of haiku, tanka and haibun for about 7
years. These forms resonate with her Tibetan Buddhist upbringing and
provide the perfect medium for the exploration of her country's rich
ritual, social and cultural heritage. She is inspired by her father,
Sonam Gyamtsho, the architect of Bhutan's non-monastic modern education.
Her haiku, tanka and haibun have been published in poetry journals and
anthologies in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Japan, UK and US.
Structurally speaking, this poignant tanka is made up of five poetic phrases (five "ku;" five "prosodic unites" of 5 or 7 syllables) 1 structured into two parts (the main statement ) with a pivot (L3) (However, although structurally and thematically important, the pivotal line plays little role in generating added meaning to the poem; it's simply because the two parts of the poem describes the same setting).
ReplyDeleteThematically speaking, two different/contrasting views of the memorialization of the holocaust is subtly established. And on a second reading, "postcards" and a "fallen leaf" carry symbolic and emotional significance.
Below is my tanka on the holocaust, which offers a third perspective on this heart-wrenching issue:
line upon line
page after page
the word
Jew
six million times
for Phil Chernofsky, author of "And Every Single One Was Someone"
NeverEnding Story, January 27, 2014
(for more info. about the book, see the note of "A Room of My Own: A Tanka about the Word, Jew," http://neverendingstoryhaikutanka.blogspot.ca/2014/01/a-room-of-my-own-tanka-about-single.html