Tuesday, February 2, 2016

One Man's Maple Moon: Border Tanka by Kurt F. Svatek

English Original

butterflies
with golden wings
fly so easily
across the border --
my thoughts pause

Gusts, 19, Spring/Summer 2014

Kurt F. Svatek


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

金色翅膀
的蝴蝶們
如此輕鬆地
飛越邊界 --
我的思緒被打斷

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

金色翅膀
的蝴蝶们
如此轻松地
飞越边界 --
我的思绪被打断


Bio Sketch

Living in Vienna, Kurt F. Svatek has published 59 books, including  poetry,  aphorisms, essays, short stories, haiku, and one novel. He also wrote several papers on aspects of  philology and one textbook. His works were featured in numerous magazines and translated  into many different languages, and he won 154 awards.

1 comment:

  1. The cheerful opening image (of nature) is counterbalanced against the heavy closing thoughts on man-made boundaries.

    Evaluated in the context of recent trends in global (forced) migration, Kurt's tanka is timely and sociopolitically conscious, and it reminds me of another border crossing tanka posted here:

    Canadian geese
    hiss at each passerby
    somewhere
    guns are fired
    at a border crossing

    Atlas Poetica Special Feature: Snipe Rising from a Marsh

    Christina Nguyen

    ReplyDelete