Sunday, February 24, 2019

Butterfly Dream: Slum Haiku by Martin Gottlieb Cohen

English Original

this slum with a moon in every puddle

Presence, 43, January 2011

Martin Gottlieb Cohen


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

這個貧民窟每個水坑裡面都有一個月亮

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

这个贫民窟在每个水坑里面都有一个月亮


Bio Sketch

Martin Gottlieb Cohen was born in the South Bronx somewhere on Simpson Street, went to a Yeshiva on East Broadway and Canal Street, and then lived in the South of Brooklyn, the South of Long Island, The Southern Tier of Upstate New York, The South of Manhattan, and finally South Jersey in Egg Harbor

4 comments:

  1. This holds a world-weary tone, all the promises the world makes--a moon in every puddle--surrounded by the truth of the slums. But the optimist is also at work here--for noticing so many...

    -- excerpted from Peter Newton's commentary, accessed at https://tinywords.com/2012/11/28/9964/#idc-cover

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  2. Emotionally speaking, I'm not sure if the quick pace of a one-liner works effectively.

    I wonder if the following three-line revision (where the zoom-out technique is employed) might lift the original up a notch:

    a moon
    in every puddle ...
    this slum

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    Replies
    1. I like the reverse ending with the moon…

      this slum
      in every puddle
      full moon


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