you told us
in your softest voice
and yet
the chill in the air
the tolling of the bell
Eucalypt, 18, 2015
Kathy Kituai
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
用最溫柔的聲音
你告訴我們所發生的事
但是
空氣中的寒氣
和教堂的鐘聲
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
用最温柔软的声音
你告诉我们所发生的事
但是
空气中的寒气
和教堂的钟声
Bio Sketch
Kathy Kituai is a poet, diarist, founder and facilitator of Limestone Tanka Poets and Kate’s Kitchen has received two Canberra Critic awards for supporting other writers. She has facilitated creative writing courses in Scotland, SA, NSW, and ACT since 1990, has published 5 anthologies, a children’s picture book, a four-part documentary dramatized for NBC radio, 7 poetry collections, 2 CDs and her latest publications are Deep in the Valley of Tea Bowls and Ink to Paper.
Combined with the sombre image of the bell tolling in the chilly air, the shift, tonal and emotional, in the lower verse, effectively conveys a sense of gloom. In Kathy's middle-of-the-story tanka, what's is not stated is at least as potent as what is.
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