Thursday, August 3, 2017

Butterfly Dream: Overcast Morning Haiku by Marietta Jane McGregor

English Original

overcast morning
the waste basket overflows
with crumpled thoughts

Presence, 52, 2015

Marietta Jane McGregor


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

陰沉的早晨
垃圾桶滿溢皺巴巴的紙張
寫著我的想法

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

阴沉的早晨
垃圾桶满溢皱巴巴的纸张
写著我的想法


Bio Sketch

Marietta Jane McGregor is a Canberra-based botanist and journalist who has pursued varied careers in research and science communication at Australian universities and the CSIRO. Having spent much of her life trying to explain things, Marietta now tries to let them explain themselves through an early love, haiku.

2 comments:

  1. The opening line successfully establishes the mood of the poem and its visually and emotionally resonant juxtaposed lines 2&3 make this poem effective and highly relatable.

    It reminds me of one of my published poems on a similar topic:

    A Portrait of the Poet as an Immigrant

    Drunk on moonlight from Taipei I stand alone under the Toronto sky.

    My mind is schizophrenic, but my hand is steady as I pursue a would-be poem on this wintry night.

    my anguish
    crumpled into a ball ,,,
    I keep writing
    as the wastebasket waits
    for another throw

    Sunlight drifts through the window and settles on the worn cover of A New Practical Chinese-English Dictionary. My heart, that lonely hunter, seeks the page where the odor of words is strongest.

    every day
    tastes a little
    different
    my hunger for words
    to picture a poet

    Haibun Today, 8:3, September 2014

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