Wednesday, June 26, 2019

One Man's Maple Moon: Spring Rains Tanka by Michael Dylan Welch

English Original

all my books collect dust
except the one of love poems
you gave me that day
when the spring rains
kept us indoors

Winner, 1992 Tanka Splendor Contest

Michael Dylan Welch


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

除了愛情詩集
我所有的書都在堆積灰塵
你給我的那一天
正在下春雨
我們留在室內躲雨

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

除了爱情诗集
我所有的书都在堆积灰尘
你给我的那一天
正在下春雨
我们留在室内躲雨


Bio Sketch

Michael Dylan Welch is the founder of the Tanka Society of America (2000), and co-founder of Haiku North America conference (1991) and the American Haiku Archives (1996). In 2010 he also started National Haiku Writing Month (NaHaiWriMo), which takes place every February, with an active Facebook page. His personal website is www.graceguts.com, which features hundreds of essays, reviews, reports, and other content, including examples of his published poetry.

1 comment:

  1. This middle-of-the-story tanka is tightly structured with an emotional undercurrent.

    The only book, a book of love poems, that doesn't gather dust is the one given by the speaker's loved one years ago when they were kept indoors due to spring rains. But what has happened between this couple? we don't know about it. All that we know is this book of love poems constantly read by the speaker.

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