this year
another wedding
another baby …
we extend the old oak table,
squeeze in a few more chairs
Spent Blossoms, TSA Anthology, 2015
Susan Constable
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
今年
另一場婚禮
另一個新生兒 ...
我們加長了舊的橡木桌子，
擠進幾把椅子
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
今年
另一场婚礼
另一个新生儿......
我们加长了旧的橡木桌子，
挤进几把椅子
Bio Sketch
Susan Constable’s haiku and tanka appear in numerous journals and anthologies. Her tanka collection, The Eternity of Waves, was one of the winning entries in the eChapbook Awards for 2012. As well as being the tanka editor of A Hundred Gourds from 2012-2016, she’s co-edited two anthologies and has judged haiku and senryu contests.
Susan's tanka effectively builds, line/poetic phrase by line/poetic phrase, to a symbolically rich and heartwarming ending that shows the importance of family.
ReplyDeleteThis family tanka is highly cinematic; it could be read as the poetic rendition of a montage scene (a series of short shots: wedding, birth, and family reunion).