Tuesday, August 7, 2018

One Man's Maple Moon: Knothole Tanka by Rebecca Drouilhet

English Original

the knothole
where a branch once grew ...
I carry
the scars of a past
that isn't past at all

Moonbathing, 17, 2017

Rebecca Drouilhet


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

這個樹幹結洞
曾有一根樹枝長出來 ...
我仍背負
尚未結束之過去
的一些傷疤

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

这个树干结洞
曾有一根树枝长出来 ...
我仍背负
尚未结束之过去
的一些伤疤


Bio Sketch

Rebecca Drouilhet is a retired registered nurse whose haiku and tanka have appeared in numerous print journal and ezines.  She won a Sakura Award in the 2012 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Haiku Invitation and an Honorable Mention in that same contest in 20`7.  The Japanese Tanka Poets Society has awarded her a Certificate of Fine Tanka.  In her free time, she enjoys reading, playing word games and spending time with her large family in Picayune, Mississippi.

1 comment:

  1. Combined with the visually and thematically resonant juxtaposition, Rebecca's tanka effectively builds, line by line, to an emotionally powerful ending that reveals a Faulknerian theme: The past isn't past.

    The past is never dead. It's not even past.

    ― William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun

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