Wednesday, April 4, 2018

One Man's Maple Moon: Kiss Smudge Tanka by Marilyn Fleming

English Original

a kiss smudge
on the windowpane
all that remains
how were we to know
we were so happy

Bamboo Hut, May 2016

Marilyn Fleming


Chinese Translation (Traditional)


最後所剩下的是
在窗戶玻璃上
的一片唇印
我們怎麼知道
我們那時是很高興

Chinese Translation (Simplified)


最后所剩下的是
在窗户玻璃上
的一片唇印
我们怎么知道
我们那时是很高兴


Bio Sketch

Marilyn Fleming was born and raised on a farm in Wisconsin USA. She won her first prize in the Hildegarde Janzen Oriental Forms Award in 1988. Samples of her poetry can be read on her website.

1 comment:

  1. The passionate kiss (which reminds me of Sylvia Plath's remark, "Kiss me and you will see how important I am") portrayed in the opening image is tinged with a sense of uncertainty, which is indicated by the question raised in the lower verse).

    The answer to the question may lie in one's "remembrance of the things past" (novel by Marcel Proust).

    His kisses tapped into deep mines of memory, and the years that had separated us fell away as if they were nothing.

    -- Lisa Kleypas

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