Wednesday, June 20, 2018

One Man's Maple Moon: Bitter Words Tanka by Radka Mindova

English Original

I put sachets of sugar
one after another
in my coffee
his words
are bitter

Second Place , 2014 Mandy's Pages Tanka Contest

Radka Mindova


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

我放了一袋
又一袋的糖
到我的咖啡杯裡
他的話
充滿苦澀

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

我放了一袋
又一袋的糖
到我的咖啡杯里
他的话
充满苦涩


Bio Sketch

Radka Mindova is an economist from Sliven, Bulgaria. She has been writing haiku for several years and her work has appeared in numerous print and on-line journals, including, Cattails, Ershik, World Haiku Review, and The Mainichi Haiku.  In 2012, 2014, and 2015, her haiku won awards in the Bulgarian Haiku Contest. Radka was selected as the European Top 100 Most Creative Haiku Authors.

2 comments:

  1. Radka Mindova’s #43 is a straight forward modern tanka in which the symbolism of the sugar and the bitterness of the coffee represent the feelings of the narrator. No matter what she does (how much sugar she uses), it can’t heal the damage done by his words...

    -- excerpted from the judge's commentary, which can be accessed at http://www.mandys-pages.com/contests/annual-tanka-contest/170-atc-2014-results

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