Sunday, January 29, 2017

One Man's Maple Moon: Disease Tanka by Patricia Prime

English Original

the disease
spreading inside my friend
like a white fern
made of frost
on the window glass

Patricia Prime


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

這疾病
正在我朋友體內擴散
它像是凍結在
窗戶玻璃上的霜
所形成的白蕨

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

这疾病
正在我朋友体内扩散
它像是冻结在
窗户玻璃上的霜
所形成的白蕨 


Bio Sketch

Patricia Prime is the co-editor of Kokako, reviews/interviews editor of Haibun Today, a reviewer and writer for Takahe and Atlas Poetica and has published haiku, tanka and haibun worldwide. Patricia recently published, with Giselle Maya (France) a collection of collaborative work called Shizuka. She was one of the editors of the world haiku anthology, A Vast Sky, and an editor of the Australian and New Zealand tanka collection, One Hundred Tanka by One Hundred Poets. Patricia’s interview conducted by editor, Mark Pirie is due to appear in the Mongolian publication World Poetry Almanac and can be read on the New Zealand Poetry Archive.

1 comment:

  1. Technically speaking, Patricia's tanka reads more like an extended simile about disease, whose symptom ("white fern")and detrimental effect ("frost on the window glass [into one's life world]) are rendered by vivid and concrete imagery.

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