flames lick
at logs that never burn
in the gas fireplace
after our divorce
embers smolder
Gusts, 19, Spring/Summer 2014
Helen E. Herr
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
在燃氣壁爐中
熊熊火苗舔著
不會燃燒的仿真木頭
我們離婚之後
感情的餘燼仍在悶燒
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
在燃气壁炉中
熊熊火苗舔著
不会燃烧的仿真木头
我们离婚之後
感情的馀烬仍在闷烧
Bio Sketch
Helen
E. Herr lives in a town of 2500: Watrous, Saskatchewan, Canada, where
people grow grain, raise livestock, and produce Potash. Her family
support her writing, painting and sculpting soapstone. She loves
writing all the different types of poetry. Her grandchildren keep her
young.
Although lacking the natural crackling and popping and sizzling of sap and the sweet, harsh olfactory effect of a wood fire, the safer and easier-to-use gas fireplace, which offers authentic-looking hand-painted ceramic logs, can create the allure of a wood burning fireplace. Well-designed, decorative gas fireplaces have now become the focal point of a middle-class home.
ReplyDeleteThe emotional and visual contrasts between the two parts of the poem spark the reader's reflection on passion and love. And on a second reading, the opening image takes on symbolic significance.