Wednesday, November 2, 2016

One Man's Maple Moon: Cat Feet Tanka by Bob Lucky

English Original

the fog doesn't
come on little cat feet,
Mr Sandburg;
it shuffles in the wake
of the minimum-waged                             

A Hundred Gourds, 5:1, December 2015

Bob Lucky


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

霧並沒有像小貓般
悄悄地到來,
桑德堡先生;
它在最低工資者身後
拖曳而行

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

雾并没有像小猫般
悄悄地到来,
桑德堡先生;
它在最低工资者身後
拖曳而行


Bio Sketch

Bob Lucky is the author of the chapbook Ethiopian Time and the content editor at Contemporary Haibun Online. He lives in Saudi Arabia.

2 comments:

  1. The upper verse is antithetical to Sandburg's 1916 haiku-influenced, most anthologized poem whose vivid image of a fog coming on "little cat feet" tries to convey the incommunicable loveliness of the earth, of life:

    "Fog"

    The fog comes
    on little cat feet.

    It sits looking
    over harbor and city
    on silent haunches
    and then moves on.

    The image of a shuffle of approaching feet in the lower verse not only adds sociopolitical significance to the poem, but also would have pulled at the heartstrings of this workingman's poet, Carl Sandburg.

    A timely, poignantly written tanka!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bob's "cat feet" tanka remind me of another two tanka that employed this Sandburgesque image:

    silence comes
    on little cat feet ...
    soft and warm
    as a late-summer breeze
    or a goodnight kiss

    NeverEnding Story, April 14, 2015

    Susan Constable


    nostalgia
    comes on little cat feet
    sitting beside me
    it practices zazen
    like a stone Buddha

    red lights, June 2011

    Chen-ou Liu

    ReplyDelete