Saturday, March 10, 2018

One Man's Maple Moon: Father Tanka by Mary Davila

English Original

a plastic bank
in the thrift store
takes me back
to when I last saw him ...
I inhale my father

Ribbons, 12:1, Winter 2016

Mary Davila


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

舊貨店裡
的一個塑膠銀行
讓我想起
上次見到他時 ...
沉浸在想像父親的臨現
  
Chinese Translation (Simplified)

旧货店里
的一个塑胶银行
让我想起
上次见到他时...
沉浸在想像父亲的临现


Bio Sketch

Mary Davila and her husband, Frank, live in Buffalo, NY.  She relies on her faith for everything, including writing.  Mary began to explore haiku and haiga in 2006.  Her work has been published in numerous online journals and in print.  In 2014, tanka became her main focus.  Her website  is www.petalsinthelight.com

1 comment:

  1. Within such a short space of 4 lines and 16 words in the upper verse, Mary successfully provides the socio-biographical sketches of the speaker (shopping at a second-hand store) and his/her alienated father ( working at a bank), and the unexpected yet powerful lower verse effectively adds emotional weight and psychological depth to the poem.

    A poignant middle-of-the-story tanka!

    ReplyDelete